There’s a couple of new rules to get into the Pro Tour Hall of Fame. First, you need to have at least two “sunday appearances” and secondly, you need at least 60% of the vote. So, who would not have gotten in with these rules?
First, Randy Buehler is out, because he only had one top eight in his short career. Incidentally, he doesn’t meet the current Pro Point limit of 150 either. Also, in 2005 the rules were quite different, so I’m leaving that year out. On the other hand, if apply the 60% rule to the Selection Committee of that year, we’d get Jon Finkel and Darwin Castle, leaving Olle Råde, Tommi Hovi and Alan Comer out.
| Year | In | Out |
| 2006 | Bob Maher, David Humphries | Raphael Levy, Gary Wise, Robert Dougherty |
| 2007 | Kai Budde, Zvi Mowshowitz | Tsuyoshi Fujita, Nicolai Herzog, Randy Buehler |
| 2008 | – | Dirk Baberowski, Michael Turian, Jelger Wiegersma, Olivier Ruel, Ben Rubin |
| 2009 | Antoine Ruel, Kamiel Cornelissen | Frank Karsten |
| 2010 | Gabriel Nassif | Brian Kibler, Tomoharu Saito (lost his induction due to suspension), Bram Snepvangers |
| 2011 | Shuhei Nakamura, Anton Jonsson | Steve O’Mahoney-Schwartz |
| 2012 | Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Kenji Tsumura, Masashi Oiso | Patrick Chapin |
| 2013 | Luis Scott-Vargas | William Jensen, Ben Stark |
| 2014 | Makihito Mihara, Paul Rietzl, Guillaume Wafo-Tapa | – |
| 2015 | Eric Froelich, Shota Yasooka | Willy Edel |
| 2016 | Yuuya Watanabe, Owen Turtenwald |
So, counting the 2005 inductees, that would mean 22 members less (I left out Saito). There would also be 22 members, so half would be gone. Is that good? Are there too many members? Of course, the Hall might look quite different if the rules had been the same from the beginning, as those who came close would often be forerunners the next year, unless someone new had ten seasons behind them.
I guess, its important to note as well, that this isn’t the first time the limit was raised. It was 30% previously, but only the top five would make it. Certain players did get 30% in some years and did not get it. The only time this happened was in 2007 and Ben Rubin and Mike Turian placed sixth and seventh. They both got in next year, when Turian was third and Rubin was fifth.
Personally, I would like to think the smaller Hall of Fame would be better. There certainly are players there I wouldn’t mind losing. However, I don’t necessarily want the best players in the hall. I would much rather see people who have a positive influence on the game. I think the game is better because of people like Frank Karsten and Patrick Chapin, so I would like to see them in the Hall, but apparently their numbers wouldn’t have been good enough at the time under the current rules. Of course, Chapin has since won a Pro Tour and made it into the finals of the World Championship, so his current stats would definitely be enough, but who knows what would have happened if he didn’t have the benefits of the Hall.
The sad thing is, Chris Pikula just made it back to the ballot and this means he’s induction is again one step further. Well, we’ll see. Maybe enough people have come around. One can hope, but its been so close so many times that this must be disheartening for him, as he’s worked hard to get there for a very long time.