Oscar Charleston Was "Inner Circle"

From time to time, we run across someone who decides the Hall of Fame should have tiers.

Sometimes they mean that literally, like when Bill Simmons proposed a 5-level pyramid of inductees a few years ago, with the top tier reserved just for the ultimate legends of the game. More often they mean it figuratively, like when Joe Posnanski sarcastically speculated about what a “Willie Mays Hall of Fame” would look like, with the joke being that it’s such an exclusive club that even Mays wouldn’t qualify for it.

The most common form this takes is when some writer or analyst talks about a player being an “inner circle Hall of Famer.” They mean someone who is in a mythical smaller group within the larger one, an elite core. You’ve probably heard the term used in other contexts, too. The folks with real power in a business or political setting, for instance, or the few actors who can carry a movie on name alone. The best of the best, in short.

The names included in a typical inner circle of the Baseball Hall of Fame usually look a lot like this: