NufCed Baseball History Hall: Introduction

Like many fans, I am frustrated by the current state of Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The museum itself is magnificent, but the recognition the institution doles out is flawed, arbitrary, and simply unfair. Players are admitted on fame rather than merit - great players must watch their lesser peers get admitted every year - why must Mike Mussina watch Jack Morris give a speech from his own couch? Further, there is no impetus for voters to select with any sort of discernment, and the process overlooks people from all walks of life, that helped build the sport more than perhaps any player.
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So, a few years ago, when the MLB.com Message Boards were active, I decided to introduce my own Hall of Fame concept, in which I counted down the 142 most influential baseball people (one for every year of professional baseball, dating back to 1871). I never finished the project and it has nagged at me for years since. So, I would like to try again, with a slightly different format. Instead of counting down from 142, this will be a chronological Hall - starting in 1871, we will induct two people - one MLB player and one pioneer or contributor. Initially, non-MLB players from history were going to be included in the second category, but I've instead decided to add them on as a third option, with a nomination every three years (arbitrary) starting with the foundation of the first reliable Negro League in 1921, so Negro League, NPB, and Latin league players won't take up spots for executives, broadcasters, etc, but they can still be recognized on equal footing with the MLB players. 

The election and induction ceremony, hypothetical as it is, takes place on September 30 of each year, theoretically on or around the final day of the regular season. Rules for eligibility are simple:
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For MLB players: 

The player must have passed one year of retirement and show no signs of returning. So when David Ortiz said he was done after 2016, didn't play at all in 2017 and showed no signs of returning, he would be eligible for the September 2017 election.
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For non-MLB players: 

The player must have turned 50 years old by election day.
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For non-players:

The person must have either a) turned 50 years old and have completed most of their significant achievements (ie: retired as manager, executive, etc). This means guys can stick around as 'advisors' or 'special assistants' and not fudge their eligibility. They can also b) have turned 75 years old. All deceased people have immediate eligibility.
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Ultimately, the goal is to have this be an annual thing going forward, perhaps with a voting component, with the election as part of a year-end award vote.
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One final note: there will be years, especially at first, without inductees. There will be years where there aren't really any deserving people, or in the case of players, where nobody has had a good career and retired yet. I've come up with 312 inductees, a little more focused group than the 323 currently enshrined at Cooperstown, but with recognition more spread out among players and other contributors. There will be some hard-luck losers, and some guys that had an easier road to induction, but I like the idea of keeping it difficult to get in, to keep recognition for all-time greats. 

So here we go. Hopefully, you learn something, and maybe even enjoy yourself a little bit.

Without further ado, the class of 1871: William Rufus Wheaton