WGOM Half-Baked Hall

Half-Baked Hall: 1915-1916

24 Comments

Are you tired? I am. I can't decide if it's because I got just six hours of sleep last night, or if it's because we have two players on this ballot named Nap.

John McGraw prompted some to question whether or not we're electing people based on managerial or other contributions to the game. The short answer is that everyone decides that for themselves. Remember, no rules for why you want to vote for somebody.

Another answer is that at some point, perhaps when we've caught up to the current year, I'll run a ballot or series of ballots that include people who have made great contributions but just didn't do enough with the bat. For example, Connie Mack, Casey Stengel, T.C. Bear.

Ballot Due Date: Monday, December 1

Big thanks to nibbish for updating the stats spreadsheet with the players below.

Last Time On The Ballot

Amos Rusie

New Hitters

Bill Bradley
Roger Bresnahan
Fred Clarke
Miller Huggins
Fielder Jones
Nap Lajoie
Danny Murphy
Joe Tinker

New Pitchers

Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown
Russ Ford
Christy Mathewson
George Millin
Nap Rucker

24 thoughts on “Half-Baked Hall: 1915-1916”

  1. Two-thirds of you love Amos Rusie. Make your case or the stage will swallow up his recliner, Remote Control style.

    1. * JAWS likes him better than Koufax, Glavine, and Feller, and not very far off of Pedro.
      * He was the original fireballer, striking out 4.6 batters per 9 at a time when the NL was averaging around 2.2. (He was wild, too... so, kind of the Nolan Ryan of his time?)
      * A book was written about him: Secrets of Amos Rusie, The World's Greatest Pitcher, How He Obtained His Incredible Speed on Balls. I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing there was a book praising my speed on balls.

      I suppose it really depends on whether you figure his peak was good enough and where you stand on brief, but impressive careers.

      As a fun side note, he was traded to the Reds right before the end of his career. The trade would have been viewed as a failure no matter what else happened, as Rusie pitched poorly for three games (more runs than innings pitched) before retiring. As it turned out, the Reds had sent over a 19 year old Christy Mathewson, so yeah... that trade didn't work out at all for the Cincinattis.

        1. From a forum post that discussed this.

          In mid-1900, the Giants bought Mathewson from a Norfolk Club for $1500. Mathewson didn't do well and the owner sent him back to Norfolk. Then the Giants owner (Andrew Freedman) instructed Cincinnati to bid $100 to draft him. Mathewson tried then to jump to the Philadelphia Athletics, but ended up not. Then Cincinnati traded him back to the Giants for Rusie. A few years later, the Cincinnati owner (John Brush) sold the Reds and bought the Giants. Also, while Brush was owner of the Reds, he owned stock in the Giants.

          What I'm reading is some ancient version of the Rule 5 was involved, maybe? So, the truth is both more complicated and more entertaining than it would first appear.

  3. How about occasional special elections for non-players (managers, GMs, broadcasters, etc.)? Say, once every two decades worth of ballots? It might be fun to occasionally have a break from the players.

    1. I like the idea. How would we structure it? Are these one-and-dones? Or is it like the Veteran's Committee, where sometimes players come back on the ballot the next time a special election is held if there seemed to be some interest?

      Then there's Negro Leaguers like Oscar Charleston. Not sure what to do there.

      1. To be fair I think I'd avoid a one-and-done. Perhaps a maximum of two ballot appearances - like a manager visiting the mound twice in an inning. If he can't get it in two, that's it. So if a non-player doesn't make it in their initial eligibility (but clears the minimum vote threshhold), they are automatically on the ballot for the next non-player ballot. After that, they're out of chances.

        1. I think that may be fair. If we look at Charlie Comiskey, who I had on the ballot earlier despite not having much WAR, his vote went between 35 and 41 percent the entire time. I have a feeling people are less likely to sway their opinion on non-players as there's usually not numbers involved, but more so general accomplishments and accolades.

  4. A friendly reminder that both Mathewson and Lajoie are pretty much definitive, inner-circle Hall of Famers.

    Speaking of, it's hilarious some of the names that didn't get elected to that 1936 group: Lajoie, Speaker, Cy Young, HORNSBY*??

    Yes, I know Hornsby hadn't technically retired yet, but Ruth had only retired the year before, and Hornsby wasn't exactly playing very much by that point. He still got 46% of the vote.

    Fun fact: The top 24 vote getters of that inaugural vote ended up getting enshrined eventually. Hal Chase is the only one of the top 25 that didn't.

    Another fun fact: Mordecai Brown (who I consider a very solid Hall of Famer, and who happens to be up for election in this very vote!) got 6 (six!) of the possible 226 votes.

    1. Mathewson won the 1905 World Series with three complete game shutouts. It was the heart of the dead ball era, but still. Just one walk in 27 innings.

      He also led the league in K/BB ratio 8 consecutive seasons.

      1. Pete was referring to the real 1936 election, not our ballot. But if you want to take the blame for that too...

  5. In 1912, Nap Lajoie batted .368 and finished in fourth place., 41 points behind Ty Cobb. Crazy

  6. Not to be daft, but were the results from this poll posted? I've been quite pre-occupied with work but interested.

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