WGOM Half-Baked Hall

Half-Baked Hall: 1924-1926

15 Comments

The next ballot may have an inner-circle guy or two. This ballot? Study hard, my friends.

Due Date: Monday, March 23

Final Ballot

Bill Dahlen
Vic Willis

New Hitters

George Burns
Jake Daubert
Larry Gardner
Harry Hooper
Del Pratt
Bobby Veach
Ross Youngs

New Pitchers

Babe Adams
Chief Bender
Wilbur Cooper
Hooks Dauss
Dutch Leonard
Rube Marquard
Jack Pfeffer

Stats

Recent Ballot

15 thoughts on “Half-Baked Hall: 1924-1926”

  1. Charles Albert "Chief" Bender was the first Minnesotan in the HOF.
    Might have been the first Native American in the HOF.
    Pitched the Athletics to the WS title, put up with a lot of racist crap due to his ethnicity, including his nickname which made it to his plaque.
    Shares a name with a robot of the 31st century.
    I could look some things up, but I'm surely voting for him without any more info.
    (Everything is off of memory there except his first and middle names.)

    1. I had forgotten this...
      "[T]he opposition or the fans often made war whoops or yelled taunts... After an inning in which he had pitched particularly well, he might yell back, 'Foreigners! Foreigners!'"
      (Wikipedia.)

  2. Bill James described Marquard as "probably the worst starting pitcher in the Hall of Fame."

    (Wikipedia) (echoed by JoePos)

    Marquard had four top-10 rWAR for pitchers seasons in his career (1911, 1912, 1913, 1916): two 5ths and two 6ths. He ranks 254th all-time for starting pitchers on JAWS. It seems he got elected (by the Vets committee in 1971) on the strength of his storytelling to Larry Ritter.

  3. One more reason to vote in Dahlen. Showtime.

    “[Art] Wilson [currently at-bat] had barely begun to move when an enraged Dahlen [who was then Brooklyn’s manager] was at home plate screaming in Rigler’s face that the ball had landed foul. He was yelling and waving his arms about, when Rigler, who later said that he thought Dahlen was getting ready to hit him, struck first. He smashed the Brooklyn manager full in the face, the punch landing under Dahlen’s left eye. Dahlen retaliated with a punch of his own, and, before Wilson had reached second base the two were at home plate exchanging blows.”

    Before the batter even got to second base. You can bet your bottom dollar that Dahlen wouldn't casually walk to the infield, look in the dugout for a sign to challenge a replay, and then respectfully ask the ump to look at it again.

  4. Here's what Bill James says about Tinker (and, more broadly, the famous "Tinker to Evers to Chance" DP combo):

    He was putting in words what was in the air: that this was the greatest defensive infield that anybody had ever seen. And in fact it was.

    I know that not everybody agrees with this. I know that there are other people who have looked at this issue and reached a different conclusion. I’ve looked at the issue myself at other times, not knowing as much as I do now, and reached a different conclusion. I’ll have to leave it up to you to weigh this analysis against the others. But it is my opinion that Joe Tinker was very possibly the greatest defensive shortstop in the history of baseball, and that he is a well-deserving Hall of Famer.

    I've been of the mind that he's in, but that's just me. Dahlen still needs some love, too.

    As for the current crop, other than Bender, I'm not even really at a "maybe" on any of them.

    1. Defensive stats from ye olden times almost certainly underrates him. I can't find a WOWY of him but I have no doubt that B-R's total is low.

  7. I've gone back and forth on Vic Willis. I'm leaning on switching my vote to no after voting yes last time.

    I still think Dahlen is a no brainer.

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