Before we get to this year's fun, here's a glimps at the 1945 ballot:
Rk | YoB | Votes | %vote | WAR | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Frank Chance HOF | 6th | 179 | 72.5% | 43.5 | ||
2 | Rube Waddell HOF | 6th | 154 | 62.3% | 55.3 | ||
3 | Ed Walsh HOF | 6th | 137 | 55.5% | 61.7 | ||
4 | Johnny Evers HOF | 6th | 134 | 54.3% | 45.2 | ||
5 | Roger Bresnahan HOF | 6th | 133 | 53.8% | 39.1 | ||
6 | Miller Huggins HOF | 5th | 133 | 53.8% | 33.8 | ||
7 | Mickey Cochrane HOF | 4th | 125 | 50.6% | 48.9 | ||
8 | Jimmy Collins HOF | 6th | 121 | 49.0% | 50.1 | ||
9 | Ed Delahanty HOF | 6th | 111 | 44.9% | 66.5 | ||
10 | Clark Griffith HOF | 5th | 108 | 43.7% | 58.1 | ||
11 | Frankie Frisch HOF | 4th | 101 | 40.9% | 68.0 | ||
12 | Hughie Jennings HOF | 5th | 92 | 37.2% | 39.7 | ||
13 | Wilbert Robinson HOF | 5th | 81 | 32.8% | 11.5 | ||
14 | Pie Traynor HOF | 5th | 81 | 32.8% | 33.8 | ||
15 | Hugh Duffy HOF | 5th | 64 | 25.9% | 40.1 | ||
16 | Fred Clarke HOF | 6th | 53 | 21.5% | 64.2 | ||
17 | Rabbit Maranville HOF | 5th | 51 | 20.6% | 39.4 | ||
18 | Joe Tinker HOF | 5th | 49 | 19.8% | 50.4 | ||
19 | Mordecai Brown HOF | 6th | 46 | 18.6% | 53.0 | ||
20 | Herb Pennock HOF | 5th | 45 | 18.2% | 39.8 | ||
21 | Joe McGinnity HOF | 5th | 44 | 17.8% | 54.7 | ||
22 | Chief Bender HOF | 6th | 40 | 16.2% | 46.6 | ||
23 | Ray Schalk HOF | 6th | 33 | 13.4% | 25.0 | ||
24 | Eddie Plank HOF | 5th | 33 | 13.4% | 85.3 | ||
25 | Bill Terry HOF | 5th | 32 | 13.0% | 52.1 | ||
26 | Lefty Grove HOF | 2nd | 28 | 11.3% | 97.4 | ||
27 | Home Run Baker HOF | 6th | 26 | 10.5% | 59.5 | ||
28 | Carl Hubbell HOF | 1st | 24 | 9.7% | 64.9 | ||
29 | Addie Joss HOF | 5th | 23 | 9.3% | 41.4 | ||
30 | Ross Youngs HOF | 6th | 22 | 8.9% | 30.9 | ||
31 | Dazzy Vance HOF | 6th | 18 | 7.3% | 58.0 | ||
32 | Dizzy Dean HOF | 1st | 17 | 6.9% | 43.4 | ||
33 | Bill Dickey HOF | 1st | 17 | 6.9% | 52.4 | ||
34 | Johnny Kling | 6th | 12 | 4.9% | 22.9 | ||
35 | Charlie Gehringer HOF | 2nd | 10 | 4.0% | 76.6 | ||
36 | Nap Rucker | 6th | 10 | 4.0% | 45.7 | ||
37 | Babe Adams | 5th | 7 | 2.8% | 50.5 | ||
38 | Lefty Gomez HOF | 1st | 7 | 2.8% | 34.6 | ||
39 | Harry Heilmann HOF | 5th | 5 | 2.0% | 67.3 | ||
40 | Kid Nichols HOF | 4th | 5 | 2.0% | 111.6 | ||
41 | Edd Roush HOF | 6th | 5 | 2.0% | 43.0 | ||
42 | Sam Crawford HOF | 6th | 4 | 1.6% | 69.9 | ||
43 | Ted Lyons HOF | 1st | 4 | 1.6% | 65.2 | ||
44 | Hank Greenberg HOF | 1st | 3 | 1.2% | 55.1 | ||
45 | Bobby Wallace HOF | 5th | 3 | 1.2% | 66.0 | ||
46 | Bill Donovan | 4th | 3 | 1.2% | 39.4 | ||
47 | Hank Gowdy | 5th | 3 | 1.2% | 17.1 | ||
48 | Bill Carrigan | 4th | 3 | 1.2% | 10.9 | ||
49 | Eddie Grant | 4th | 2 | 0.8% | 3.4 | ||
50 | Branch Rickey HOF | 2nd | 2 | 0.8% | 1.0 | ||
51 | Jesse Burkett HOF | 4th | 2 | 0.8% | 60.5 | ||
52 | Bill McKechnie HOF | 1st | 2 | 0.8% | 2.5 | ||
53 | Zack Wheat HOF | 5th | 2 | 0.8% | 56.9 | ||
54 | Bobby Lowe | 2nd | 2 | 0.8% | 16.8 | ||
55 | Deacon Phillippe | 3rd | 2 | 0.8% | 31.8 | ||
56 | Kid Elberfeld | 5th | 2 | 0.8% | 30.4 | ||
57 | Casey Stengel HOF | 3rd | 2 | 0.8% | 18.5 | ||
58 | Gabby Hartnett HOF | 2nd | 2 | 0.8% | 50.7 | ||
59 | Bill Sweeney | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 12.0 | ||
60 | Van Mungo | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 31.1 | ||
61 | Amos Rusie HOF | 5th | 1 | 0.4% | 65.6 | ||
62 | Mike Donlin | 4th | 1 | 0.4% | 28.6 | ||
63 | Claude Ritchey | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 31.5 | ||
64 | Tony Lazzeri HOF | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 46.2 | ||
65 | Jesse Tannehill | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 45.8 | ||
66 | Harry Davis | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 35.5 | ||
67 | Danny Murphy | 2nd | 1 | 0.4% | 32.8 | ||
68 | Pepper Martin | 2nd | 1 | 0.4% | 15.8 | ||
69 | Eppa Rixey HOF | 3rd | 1 | 0.4% | 51.7 | ||
70 | Duffy Lewis | 4th | 1 | 0.4% | 17.9 | ||
71 | Kid Gleason | 4th | 1 | 0.4% | 6.1 | ||
72 | Cy Seymour | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 30.3 | ||
73 | Charlie Grimm | 2nd | 1 | 0.4% | 10.6 | ||
74 | Donie Bush | 4th | 1 | 0.4% | 36.7 | ||
75 | Herman Long | 4th | 1 | 0.4% | 33.4 | ||
76 | Jimmy Sheckard | 2nd | 1 | 0.4% | 46.7 | ||
77 | Jack Dunn | 2nd | 1 | 0.4% | -0.8 | ||
78 | Heinie Groh | 3rd | 1 | 0.4% | 46.3 | ||
79 | Charlie Root | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 36.3 | ||
80 | Howie Camnitz | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 13.0 | ||
81 | Joe Gordon HOF | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 54.0 | ||
82 | Ginger Beaumont | 3rd | 1 | 0.4% | 28.3 | ||
83 | Billy Southworth HOF | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 19.3 | ||
84 | Earle Combs HOF | 4th | 1 | 0.4% | 40.0 | ||
85 | Bob Meusel | 3rd | 1 | 0.4% | 24.2 | ||
86 | Cy Williams | 2nd | 1 | 0.4% | 34.7 | ||
87 | Max Carey HOF | 4th | 1 | 0.4% | 51.1 | ||
88 | Joe DiMaggio HOF | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 75.1 | ||
89 | Dickey Kerr | 5th | 1 | 0.4% | 9.1 | ||
90 | Wid Conroy | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 19.0 | ||
91 | Pat Moran | 4th | 1 | 0.4% | 5.6 | ||
92 | Steve Yerkes | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 5.6 | ||
93 | Sherry Magee | 5th | 1 | 0.4% | 55.8 | ||
94 | Johnny Vander Meer | 1st | 1 | 0.4% | 23.8 | ||
95 | Bill Dinneen | 4th | 1 | 0.4% | 37.5 |
The history above, lends me to believe we could see a sort of similar result this year, with no-one receiving the required 75% of the vote for enshrinement. With a maximum of ten players one may vote for, and somewhere between 11 and 15 viable candidates, we may not see 3/4's of the voters agree on anyone.
Like a radio station one of our parents may listen to, this year's ballot has a collection of stars from the 80's, 90's, and today.
In alphabetic order, and without numbers, here are the players on this year's ballot:
Sandy Alomar Jr.
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If anyone has a chance to make it this time around, it's Craig Biggio. |
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Jeff Cirillo
Royce Clayton
Roger Clemens
Jeff Conine
Steve Finley
Julio Franco
Shawn Green
Roberto Hernandez
Ryan Klesko
Kenny Lofton
Edgar Martinez
Don Mattingly
Fred McGriff
Mark McGwire
Jose Mesa
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
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Schilling's W%, ERA, and K/BB ratio give him an outstanding case for Cooperstown. |
Mike Piazza
Tim Raines
Reggie Sanders
Curt Schilling
Aaron Sele
Lee Smith
Sammy Sosa
Mike Stanton
Alan Trammell
Larry Walker
Todd Walker
David Wells
Rondell White
Bernie Williams
Woody Williams
I've been looking forward to this ballot for so long, that I envisioned writing up an obscenely long post for why we should or should not vote for each player on the list. Instead, we are going to try to keep this as short as possible, while hopefully providing one or two facts and opinions you may not find elsewhere. Over the past several weeks, however, I've noticed that you, dear reader, have greater choices for earnest Hall of Fame analysis.
Some of the best options include: Buster Olney's blog, Jay Jaffe's Hit and Run, Joe Posnanski's blog, Joe's twitter, or Joe's day job. Of course, we can also check in on any of the 575 writers who actually have a ballot to see how they voted, and why. Darren Viola has been doing an outstanding job of keeping records of writer's ballots as they are posted online. Darren shares his findings on his twitter: @RRepoz.
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Barry Larking was a considerate and classy inductee last June. |
Let's quickly take a closer look.
The "It's an honor to be on the ballot, but it's a relatively easy No" group includes: Todd Walker, Jose Mesa, Sandy Alomar Jr, Mike Stanton, Jeff Conine, Royce Clayton, Roberto Hernandez, Aaron Sele, Ryan Klesko, Rondell White, Woody Williams, Shawn Green, and Jeff Cirillo.
We are left with 24 on the ballot with room to vote for 10.
A few other players who have a relatively interesting story to tell, but will ultimately fall short of a vote from us include: Lee Smith (478 Saves), Steve Finley (304 HR's, 320 SB's), Reggie Sanders (also over 300 steals an homers, not to mention a 115 OPS+, which is higher than Biggio, Trammell, and Lofton), and Julio Franco, who played until he was 48 and ranks 21st on this ballot by bWAR, between Don Mattingly and Jack Morris.
This leaves us with 20 players for a maximum of 10 votes.
You know what? We're about to get to the more controversial players and have some tough choices to make. This is going to take us a little too long for a "quick" post. Let's get to this in the next day or two...
TO BE CONTINUED...
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