Of course, Granillo didn’t just throw everyone in all willy-nilly. A lot of thought was put into this project.

• The game’s most noble players make up the right-most column, with the most radioactive players making up the left-most column. The radioactive players go from most benign to most dangerous from top-to-bottom.

• Every effort was made to keep the top-tier Hall of Famers in the first three rows of the chart, or as close to it as possible.

• The second-to-right-most column on the periodic table of elements is the second-most reactive group of elements. On the Periodic Table of Hall of Famers, this comes out as the highly temperamental Hall of Famers, those who were known for being jerks on the field but who aren’t looked at as bad guys today.

• The 500-Home Run Club is represented together on the chart, as well as the group of 300-Game Winners. The 3,000-Hit Club is also grouped together, down below.

• Other smaller groups are the Hall of Fame relief pitchers, the players known mainly for their defense, and those who made the Hall despite a short career (which usually means a very high peak).

• The rest of the Hall of Famers are shown together in the bulk of the table. For these — and for all of the different groups, really — I made an effort to keep the best to the top and right. Other factors, such as their personality, were also included, as described above.

• Three players not voted in by the regular BBWAA process are included on the chart as well. They are mostly there because I liked how well they fit in with the concept of the chart. Hey, it’s my chart — I get to be as subjective as I want.

This incredible chart was the final product. (Click to embiggen.)

Not bad at all, but there are some potential revisions. “The Nobles,” the classier gents of baseball’s past, replacing noble gases is fine, but Babe Ruth was surely a “noble gas” in his day. (Still, we can’t argue with his “radioactivity.”)

Also, the section that includes players whose careers were cut short is plunked down in the area represented by synthetic actinoids, some of which boasts isotopes with half-lives lasting thousands of years. A better place would’ve been with the transition elements, like Seaborgium, whose most stable isotope has a half-life of less than two minutes.

Still, these are but minor quibbles, as we’re quietly scheming to blow up this image file and posterize it for friends and family come the holidays. And if you compare Granillo’s masterstroke with an actual PToE, you’re bound to uncover more hidden gems. (Giving Old Hoss Radbourn the “K” slot? Brilliant.)

Follow us on Twitter at @erikmal and @wiredplaybook, and on Facebook.

Authors: Erik Malinowski

to know more click here