WGOM Half-Baked Hall

Half-Baked Hall: 1930-1933

19 Comments

Babe Ruth retired in 1935, so you're going to have to wait to argue about his candidacy. For now you'll have to settle for these scrubs.

Final Ballot

Miller Huggins
Joe Tinker

New Batters

Dave Bancroft
Lu Blue
Eddie Collins
Harry Heilmann
Edd Roush
Wally Schang
George Sisler
Cy Williams

New Pitchers

Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander
Red Faber
Jack Quinn
Eppa Rixey
Eddie Rommel

Ballots Released: About Tuesday, May 19
Ballots Due: Tuesday, May 26

Last Ballot Results

Player Stats

19 thoughts on “Half-Baked Hall: 1930-1933”

  2. I'd like to see Coveleski get a bump here. The boating story is... unsettling, and the black ink is a touch lacking, but if you look at the adjusted ERA and peak rWAR (JAWS likes him as a decent HOF candidate), then he rates better than many of the Hall of Famers from the period (man, the 20's were the era of the pitching compiler).

    I'd also like to see Schang get an honest look for a couple of reasons. First, the HBH needs a catcher to backstop all these awesome pitchers. Second, he's 3rd all time in OBP among players who caught the majority of their games (Mauer is #2). Third, he's 19th in JAWS. I know JAWS isn't some magic stat, but it definitely considers Schang to be the second best pre-1940 catcher (Cochrane is number one, obviously). He's not a slam dunk, but he deserves more of a look than he's likely to get if no one says anything.

    1. Schang was tough. I gave him extra credit for his OBP, but even then I didn't feel there was quite enough for me to give him my vote. I'm sympathetic to the argument that he was one of the best of any catcher leading up to his era, but I don't feel like I should be persuaded to vote for him when other, better catchers (Gene Tenace, for example) in the future might not be getting my vote.

      Then again, I could see myself considering a vote for Bill Freehan. Freehan's a touch better in JAWS and a bit more ahead in WAR7. Schang was the better hitter even when you account for era, but Freehan was better with the glove by a good margin according to the data we have.

      This may be one of the times I change my mind. Hopefully Schang's on a few more ballots so I can sort this one out.

    2. He got my vote because he had the highest WAR for catchers when he retired. However, I don't think I voted for Bresnahan though despite him being the best when he retired in 1915. Schang is definitely borderline.

  3. Red Faber is a tough call. He only had two seasons that were Cy Young worthy and they came the two years after half of his teammates were banned for life. Otherwise, he was a solid pitcher for the Sox for twenty straight years. He did pitch very well in the World Series for the '17 Championship team. He was the last legal spitballer and the pitch probably extended his career due to low stress on his arm.

    One funny note: In the 17 World Series, he tried to steal third base forgetting that Buck Weaver was already there. He more than made up for it with his three victories.

  4. Also, I realize he's a borderline candidate, but you should all elect Urban Shocker because his name is URBAN SHOCKER. You'll be hard pressed to find a better plaque.

  5. Hey Beau, the ballot doesn't seem to match the players listed above. Carl Mays and Lee Meadows are on it and Pete Alexander is not.

    I was pumped to vote for Grover Cleveland.

    1. Dammit!

      Carl Mays and Lee Meadows were new players from last ballot that I forgot to put on there. So they're on this one.

      Don't know how I missed Alexander. Few people have voted yet. I added it to the ballot and I'll send out a private e-mail to those who have asking them if they like him or not.

  7. Man, Jack Quinn had one weird career. He didn't reach the majors until 25, played in the Federal League, then missed most of three seasons in the middle of his career after he couldn't get signed anywhere. His three-year peak seasons came at age 38-40: 5.0, 4.6, and 5.3 rWAR, respectively. His first 5-win season came at age 30, his last at age 43. Despite never cracking 6 rWAR and posting less than 2 rWAR in over half his seasons, he still managed 59 rWAR.

    Quinn was the oldest pitcher to win a game until Jamie Moyer broke his record, and the oldest player to hit a home run until Julio Franco broke that record.

    Just weird.

  8. How is it that I had to look up Eddie Collins!? The man played professional baseball for 25 years, accumulating 123.9 WAR, was AL MVP in 1914 and top-5 in MVP voting 6 times, played in the World Series 6 times, winning 4 rings and, according to JAWS, is 2nd only to Rogers Hornsby for second basemen all-time!
    According to his SABR bio:

    At Connie Mack's suggestion, Collins made his major league debut under the alias of Eddie T. Sullivan on September 17, 1906...

    perhaps due to the fact that he was still a collegiate player on the Columbia baseball team?

    Even though he was an exceptionally bright guy, graduating from Columbia and considered one of the smartest baseball men of his era, he was superstitious as get-all:

    He believed it lucky to have someone spit on his hat before a game. Each winter Collins soaked his bats in oil, dried them out and rubbed them down with a bone. This practice became the stuff of lore, as it has even been said that he buried his bats in cow dung piles to "keep 'em alive."

  10. On June 2, 1925, Wally Pipp had a headache and popped a couple of Aspirin, so Lou Gehrig stepped in at first -- and "The Iron Horse" would not miss a game for the next 2,128 games. Said Wally Pipp: "I took the two most expensive Aspirin in history."

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