From here to the Hall: Predicting 40 active players who will wind up in Cooperstown

How many active major leaguers are future Hall of Famers?

This is not a trick question. But it is a difficult question, one requiring thought and analysis, and maybe a crazy guess or two. Luckily, I'm here to provide some answers for you.

Warning: I've done this before and once nominated Hank Blalock as a future Hall of Famer. That looks silly now, but by the age of 23 he was a two-time All-Star and had seasons of 29 and 32 home runs with 10.7 career WAR. A string of injuries eventually derailed his career, however, and he played his last major league game in 2010 at age 29.

Point is: Good luck with this assignment.

The first task is to figure out how many Hall of Famers are active in any given…