HOF Builders and their first players

[Enorama 2,085]

In my last media spot I jokingly referred to it as my annual contribution to this subforum, but here we are actually approaching three full calendar years since that post. Let's blame that on me only getting 3 reacts to that last one (and definitely not because I accidentally posted it in the VHLE announcements subforum initially). Here it is if anyone is interested in rando history, as you probably are if you clicked on this title: 

 

 

This idea stemmed from a one-off message in the VHLM draft chat last night about different boom eras in the VHL in terms of recruitment and how GMs, executives, etc. came from a handful of drafts more than others. I pulled the list of HOF-inducted builders into a sheet last night and got to work to see if I could discern anything interesting from it. Where I chose to start is their first ever players and when they were drafted (both season and draft position).

 

55 members have been inducted to the Hall Of Fame in the builder category. Here are some things I found interesting about their first players:

 

• To nobody's surprise, the clear and away heaviest draft class for first gens who went on to become HOF builders was the Season 1 draft. There were 10 total inductees from that class, including a few that I initially missed because they came back with more well-known players in the seasons that followed. The only other classes with more than a single inductee were S2 (3), S3 (3), S11 (2), S20 (3), S33 (2), and S42 (2). The first draft classes to not have a single future inductee were S7, S9, S14, and S15. The largest gap of classes between inductees was 15 seasons, from S42 to S57. 
  • It's marginally interesting to me that the last one also coincides with a double inductee class followed by a dearth for a decade and a half and even a league retraction in S58. Usually recruitment has a snowball effect so it's odd to me that having two future builders in a class would not result in them pulling in their friends, who pull in their friends, etc. @hedgehog337 and @Banackock are the S42 pair - toxic duo or something???
• Never forget @Beketov was picked first overall just to get TPE banned for a full season - I actually almost did forget and originally marked Alexander Beketov as his first player.
• Speaking of first overalls, I expected a lot of those in this dataset as well but there were actually only 3 in total. These three were myself (Ryan Kastelic, S63), @STZ (Ethan Osborne, S30, and @Beketov, S1).
  • Spaced out pretty nicely by ~30 seasons which means we should keep an eye on @courtjestr19 as they were the sole S90s first overall who is also a first gen player.
  • First gens going first overall is relatively rare to begin with, but I thought that in the S20-S40 range more of those builders would have gone first overall on their first player. Colour me corrected!
• The most popular range for their draft position is actually 6-8 overall with roughly 44% of the builders' first players being drafted with one of those three picks. Intuitively, this does make sense, as that usually represented where the top first gens were going in the draft after that draft's batch of regulars is gone (for most of league history anyway).
  • To note - could be interesting to see first gen representation as a % of 1OA, top 5, or 1st round and how that warps over time.
  • Pick positions 1-11 and 13-19 are all represented in the list, but 12 is conspicuously absent. Could be time to look at @fromtheinside, @FrostBeard, @BladeMaiden, or @Peace for the next induction to shore up this gap.
  • @gregreg's goaltender Greg Harbinson pulls up the rear at the aforementioned 19th overall with @JardyB10 nipping at his heels at 18th.
• One single builder actually passed through their first draft entirely undrafted. Shout out to @Advantage and Chris Miller's massive 7 TPE in S13.
  • Three others were technically not drafted in S1 but they were inaugural GMs of VHL franchises and per the initial rules their players were automatically placed on their respective teams. These are @Kendrick, @PensFan101, and Slobo if you wanted to know.
• Most names I recognized instantly but there are a handful that caught me by surprise because I feel like I know them so much for another player or their Builder/GM name. To name a few:
  • @Beketov's Robert Sharpe, as mentioned earlier. Shame on me for this one.
  • @v.2's Jesus Christ. 'Nuff said.
  • @Victor's Vase Trikamaki. You mean to tell me your first player wasn't Victor Alfredsson???
  • @diamond_ace's Lars Intranquilo. This may be just because I see your GM/Builder (and maybe genuine IRL) name seemingly all over the place.
• Last thing that I took a look at was the gap between the builder's first player and their induction. It should come as no surprise to anyone reading this that Slobo takes first place here with 18 seasons (S1-S19) as the first ever builder inductee. What surprised me is that he actually is not alone in first place as @Beaviss matched the 18 seasons (S57-S75). I already regret pinging him lest this go straight to his head.
  • In terms of the modern era (S57 first gens and "younger"), we actually have multiple under 30 seasons: @Beaviss 18, @Josh 20, @Dil 24, @Acydburn 26, @Spartan  26, myself 28, @Gustav  30. 
  • On the high end of difference in time what stands out to me is people who were around early but really had waves of activity where they eventually were recognized more for their longevity and differing contributions over time rather than a burst of high activity that you see from a lot of newer inductees. Some names that stand out to me that match this description would be @frescoelmo (S18-S95), @.sniffuM (S11-S79), @Quik (S1-S67), and @Doomsday (S33-S94).
  • We have one glaring outlier on the top end of this. From Jesus Christ in S1 to induction in S97, it took the league 96 seasons to recognize @v.2 and his accomplishments.

 

 

 

Special shoutout to @Victor for correcting me on a few guys' first players and clearing up what the hell the "S1 Supplemental Draft" actually was.

 

Here's the sheet if anyone else cares to dig through the data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1heixw9IAEu9Jz68aZbqetgBwZ0jj7GNrb9extkeYuAY/

 

1,050 words, claiming for weeks ending May 18 & 25.

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:56 PM by Enorama
Fixin da dates at the bottom

[Dil 1,851]

I built this league brick by brick

[solas 2,034]

S20 draft class >>>>

[Enorama 2,085]

Just now, solas said:

S20 draft class >>>>

 

Only class with more than two inductees since S3!

[solas 2,034]

1 minute ago, Enorama said:

Only class with more than two inductees since S3!

Wouldn't have expected it but tbh I forgot about that class. Honestly surprised S18 only had one but I guess most of that draft was recreates. 

[Victor 11,338]

51 minutes ago, Enorama said:

@Victor's Vase Trikamaki. You mean to tell me your first player wasn't Victor Alfredsson??

Never had a player with that name. Maybe time to correct that.

[Acydburn 1,689]

1 hour ago, Enorama said:

In terms of the modern era (S57 first gens and "younger"), we actually have multiple under 30 seasons: @Beaviss 18, @Josh 20, @Dil 24, @Spartan  26, myself 28, @Gustav  30. 

 

Same as @Spartan  I was 26 Seasons, S67-S93. 

[BOOM 9,202]

R.I.P. Vladimir Boomchenko

[FrostBeard 2,088]

So... Uhm... When am I getting inducted? 

Edited yesterday at 12:27 PM by FrostBeard

[v.2 1,499]

Jesus Christ Reborn coming Season 666

[Beketov 9,326]

8 hours ago, v.2 said:

Jesus Christ Reborn coming Season 666

~6.5 seasons per calendar year, opened our doors in 2007 so S666 should be sometime in 2109.

[C-Breeze 236]

1 hour ago, Beketov said:

~6.5 seasons per calendar year, opened our doors in 2007 so S666 should be sometime in 2109.

 

Happy to see somebody paid attention in math class!

 

All well and good, but I think you may have forgotten the asterisk.

 

*2109* If the planet is still here!

[diamond_ace 3,117]

On 5/13/2025 at 4:15 PM, Enorama said:

 

• • @diamond_ace's Lars Intranquilo. This may be just because I see your GM/Builder (and maybe genuine IRL) name seemingly all over the place.

 

Bolded line is correct.