Only ten new players on this ballot. For those who do writeups, look below for your assignments.
The stats page hasn't been updated yet. Nibbish will let everyone know when he gets to it.
The votes page hasn't been updated yet. Daneeksaghost will let everyone know when he gets to it.
Fun Fact: 1943 is the first year that zero players retired who had over 30 WAR.
Blurb Due Date: December 11
Final Ballot
Max Carey 37%
Stan Coveleski 68%
Urban Shocker 42%
Zack Wheat 63%
New Hitters
Earl Averill (daneekasghost)
Wally Berger (CanofCorn)
Charlie Gehringer (Beau)
Gabby Hartnett (philosofer)
Buddy Myer (Scot)
New Pitchers
Wes Ferrell (yickit)
Larry French (New Britain Bo)
Lefty Grove (nibbish)
Bump Hadley (bhiggum)
Charlie Root (DPWY)
Daneeksaghost will let everyone know when he gets to it.
Yeah, the semester is almost over. Then I'll be freeeeeee!
Does this mean Nickelback will be in your playlist now?
Charlie Root was the pitcher when Babe Ruth allegedly called his shot. There, I'm done.*
*I joak, more forthcoming when I have time
Charlie Root
Charles Henry Root (called both Charlie and Charley by papers throughout the entirety of his career) didn't have a major league breakthrough until he was 27 (he was a groundskeeper for the Browns for one season), but then pitched with the Cubs for 16 seasons, and, as mentioned above, was the pitcher for Babe Ruth's alleged called shot. He relied almost exclusively on a fastball, spat tobacco juice all over the place, and loved to pitch inside.
Root was involved in another famous Cubs World Series moment as he was the starting, and losing, pitcher in Game One of the 1929 Fall Classic. His mound opponent, seldom-used veteran Howard Ehmke stymied the Cubs after having been sent by manager Connie Mack to personally scout them down the stretch. In a lesser known, but more typical, game for the Cubs, Root was also the starter in Game Four of that series as the Cubs allowed 10 runs in the seventh inning to blow an 8-0 lead and lose the game.
In 1932, Root allowed the alleged called shot (in an interview years later, Root said, "Ruth most certainly did not call his homerun in that game. I ought to know: I was there." Root allowed three other homeruns in that game (another to Ruth, and two to Gehrig) becoming the first pitcher to allow four homeruns in a single World Series game.
:
201-160 with a 3.59 ERA, 38.0 WAR
The stat sheet is updated!
My writeup is not, but you should vote for Grove, because he's probably one of the ten best pitchers ever.
Irving Darius "Bump" Hadley
He came up in 1926 with the Washington Senators and played there for six years, having a very good rookie campaign in '22 where he went 14-6 with a 2.85 ERA and a 142 ERA+.
Unfortunately, he didn't have another season that good until 1931, which was his last year in Washington (11-10, 3.06, 141 ERA+).
He then proceeded to vacillate between slightly below average to slightly above average for eight years, split between the St. Louis Browns, the White Sox, the Senators again, and then the Yankees, where he helped win three world championships, highlighted by his third and final really good season in '39 (12-6, 2.98, 146 ERA+).
He spent four more years in decline with the Yankees, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics before retiring in 1942.
Interesting Anecdotes-
On September 3, 1928, Hadley gave up the last of Ty Cobb's then-Major League record 4,191 career hits.
On May 25, 1937, upset by a home run in a previous at bat, he threw a pitch which hit Mickey Cochrane in the head. The resulting injury nearly killed Cochrane, and ended his playing career.
Hadley finished his career with a 161-165 record with 1,318 strikeouts and a 4.24 career ERA. He pitched 195 innings or more in eight of his 16 seasons, highlighted by 316.2(!??!!) innings pitched as a 28 year old.
Hadley's "value" stats = 35.7 career WAR/31.1 7yr-peak WAR/33.4 JAWS
Avg HOF P (out of 62) = 73.9 career WAR/50.3 7yr-peak WAR/62.1 JAWS
Well... Bump is a cool nickname .
Lawrence Herbert (Larry) French was born in Visalia, CA in 1907. He batted right-handed and threw left-handed (as did Rickey Henderson, just to name a few).
Other notable Visalians include: Kevin Costner (Bull Durham has numerous references to Visalia), Doobie-Hnos Tom Johnston, Avi Kaplan of Pentatonix, Nobel physics laureate Robert Laughlin, Monte Melkonian (Armenian general during the Nagorno-Karabakh War), Steve Perry (Journey), Andrew Toti (inventor, 500 patents!, including the Mae West life-jacket).
Visalia was also featured in several episodes of season 2 of the TV series 24 (I missed that, fixated on getting my own Jack Bauer utility bag).
French played for the Pirate, the Cub, and the Dodger. He led the NL in Hits (301 in 1931 and 1932, 290 in 1933, and Shutouts (4 in 1935 and 1936). One writer said he was the best pitcher not in the Hall of Fame. Over 14 seasons, he clocked 197 wins/171 losses w/ 1,187 strikeouts and a 3.44 ERS in 3,125 IP. He had a total of 40 shutouts and 198 complete games.
After he left Brooklyn, he became a career sailor, retiring as a Captain.
HOF Stats (from b-r.com)
Black Ink Pitching 4 (480), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray Ink Pitching 171 (71), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame Monitor Pitching 50 (271), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards Pitching 23 (252), Average HOFer ≈ 50
French is noted for a particular “shower game” in 1933 where the Pirates had a commanding lead over the Boston Braves (8-0). Larry hit the showers, only to learn whilst rinsing off that the Braves had rallied (8-7) – he was called up to pitch and hustled out in his uniform but still dripping wet.
More:
"My screw ball isn't as good as Carl Hubbell's. He throws his with more of an overhand motion. Mine is more side arm. A screw ball is a troublesome ball for a right-hander to hit, for, thrown by a left-handed pitcher, it breaks away from him. Its break is not so sharp as that of a curve, but it seems even more deceptive. As the batter says, it fades away." - Larry French in Baseball Magazine (January 1934)
Charlie "The Mechanical Man" Granger
I dare hungry joe to find a single picture of Gehringer smiling for his plaque.
Bucky Harris said, "I've never seen one man hit in so much hard luck, consistently. Year after year, he leads the league in line drives right at somebody. No wonder he looks so sad."
He also was given a set of right-handed golf clubs despite being left-handed. He learned how to golf right-handed.
My favorite story that I could find about him was that his father died when he was in his 20's and his mother had diabetes. He moved in with her and decided to stay a bachelor as to not interfere with the care of his mother. He married a little while after she died when he was 42. He missed his hall-of-fame ceremony as it would have changed his plans for his wedding.
Do I need to mention that Gehringer is a slam-dunk vote? 80+ WAR, most of that from offense but saved runs on defense as well. Scores as 5th highest 2nd baseman ever by JAWS. One World Series ring with an OPS of .923 in the series.
He also was given a set of right-handed golf clubs despite being left-handed. He learned how to golf right-handed.
That's not why I golf right-handed, but golfing on the opposite side from one's baseball swing is surprisingly doable.
I am thinking about partially transitioning back to lefty for fun, though.
golfing on the opposite side from one's baseball swing is surprisingly doable.
Now that you mention it, I wonder if I shouldn't golf left-handed. I can barely do anything left-handed, but my baseball-style golf swing is terrible for actually golfing. Might I just build from scratch instead of trying to unlearn?
I can't do ANYTHING righty, but switching helped me immensely. My left-handed swing had a hitch in it from all the years I'd played baseball, so after three years of golfing left-handed, I switched to right. You'll have different hitches, but most of the bad habits should be wiped clean.
I still putt lefty. My perception gets all messed up when I try to putt righty.
Since golfing is more about rhythm and accuracy than brute strength, it makes sense. I swing way too damn hard because that's how I learned to play baseball. Even when I tell myself to slow down I end up swinging at 125%.
While playing tennis I have at times eschewed a backhand and switched the racquet to my left-hand. That's a bit cheaper than getting left-handed clubs.
switched the racquet to my left-hand
I do that too - great in doubles when you're at the net.
I golf righty but bat lefty, too. I should add, though, that I'm completely strange because I throw lefty, but bowl righty.
Riiight ... the "throw lefty, but bowl righty" bit is was makes you completely strange. You just keep tellin' yourself that my man, it's gotten you this far.
Throwing lefty but bowling righty is what makes you someone who missed an opportunity. Lefties get all the oil to themselves!
Buddy Myer is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. The only problem is that he was raised Baptist. Myer didn't feel quite right about his induction, but didn't say anything because he felt it might be taken the wrong way.
Myer started his career by taking MVP shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh's job with Washington, but was traded by Clark Griffith shortly after the start of his sophomore season. Griffith later called that trade the "dumbest move" he ever made, and got Myer back by trading five men to Boston a few years later. Myer held down the shortstop position in DC for the next decade.
He is currently tied with Rod Carew with the second-highest career OBP for the franchise (.393 - #1 is Joe Mauer .394) and is 9th in WAR for position players.
I swear I don't intentionally give you Nationals players. It just happens.
Wes Ferrell -
(edit) Bah let me write that again.
(edit 2) Okay Wes Ferrell. How do I get the pitchers that can hit? From the stat sheet:
60 WAR (12.8 as a batter)
116 ERA+
One thing to note is that he as fewer innings than a lot of the HBHoF Pitchers (2623) ahead of him. Though their ERA+ are higher.
From the horse's mouth on growing up:
Sounds like he was also a bit of a hot head.
He probably doesn't quite meet the threshold for me, but he had a very good peak before arm troubles hastened his decline.
career OPS+ of 100. That's the highest career OPS+ of any pitcher after the deadball era.
Yeah forgot to include that.
Wally Berger
A good but not great Center fielder for the Boston Braves, Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants & Philadelphia Phillies between 1930-40.
Career numbers: .300/.359/.522 with 138 OPS+, 242 career homeruns, 898 RBI's and a 42.1 WAR.
Best year: 1933 when he was an All Star and finished 3rd in the NL MVP voting with a 6.8 WAR (.313/.365/.566).
Participated in the WS twice (1937 & '39) going 0-18 with 1 RBI and his teams losing both appearances (Yankees won in both years).
Lefty Grove was ridiculously good at pitching. He didn't make the majors until 25, but by 26, he was basically the best pitcher in baseball. From 1926 to 1932, he led the AL in ERA five times, pitching WAR four times, and FIP six times.
After the 1933 season, he got traded to the Red Sox, and immediately got injured. He had a horrible 1934 season at age 34. So, of course, he played another seven seasons after that, leading the league in ERA another four times (nine times in all, a record which won't be broken anytime real soon).
In an era where most of the pitchers we're debating merely stuck around long enough to compile some magical number of wins, WAR, or other some such stat, Grove was truly elite. All I'm saying is that if this isn't a unanimous vote, I'll be flipping tables.
* Curious note: He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947 on his fourth ballot (the first two ballots occured while he was still playing, including one for the inaugural class in 1936, when he still had five seasons to play and 2 ERA titles to win). However, he strangely gathered six votes on the 1960 ballot, thirteen years after he was actually elected. I guess if there was a pitcher to get voted in twice, it may as well be Lefty Grove.
Couldn't bring myself to give an outright "No," but almost voted "Maybe" just to see some more flipped tables.
Maybe some of those voters in 1960 were thinking of Lefty Gomez. As a kid, I conflated the two of them.
Earl Averill (aka "The Earl of Snohomish" - which is a solid nickname)
Centerfielder for the Cleveland Indians (1929-1939), then finished his career with seasons in Detroit and Boston.
Black Ink doesn't like him much (bbref has his black ink value at 6 - avg. HOF is 27)
Grey Ink says different (bbref has grey ink value of 145 - avg. HOF is 144)
Career numbers - .318/.395/.534 (133 OPS+) -- 238 HR, 401 doubles, just over 2000 hits.
Career started late (27-yr. old rookie), and was shortened by back problems.
Hit .378 in 1936. Still among the 10 highest batting averages in the last 80 years.
He was well-regarded by his peers, but his career seems to be overshadowed by some of the true giants of the 30's and 40's.
Interesting facts:
Averill is the only player in Cooperstown to have hit a home run in his first major league at-bat. (I didn't fact-check this, it was apparently true as of 1995 or so)
Hit the line drive off of Dizzy Dean's toe that supposedly ended the pitcher's career.
I believe Hoyt Wilhelm also homered in his first plate appearance.
Interestingly, his ONLY career homer.
I guess he really had nowhere to go but down, really.
Gabby Harnett
Old Time Stats: Lifetime batting average of .297, which is pretty darn good for a catcher. 236 career HRs. 1,179 RBI. There's some longevity and compiling going on here, but until Johnny Bench played, this guy was considered the best NL Catcher ever. When he retired he was the career leader for catchers in HR, 2B, hits, and games played. Strong arm and threw out a good percentage of runners. Purdy darn deserving.
New Fangled Stats: WAR: 53.4. Almost all of that came from offensive output, but he was just above replacement level defensively too. JAWS has him as the 11th most deserving Hall catcher of all time, with two of the players ahead of him not yet eligible (Pudge and some kid named Mauer). So he's deserving in this regard too.
Misc: Was involved in many noteworthy baseball events, including Ruth's Called Shot, and he was the guy who hit the "Homer in the Gloamin'" which is a thing I heard of before researching this. Totally. Gabby is his nickname, because he was quiet. I love ironic nicknames.
Bottom line, this dude was good. He's in the real hall, and he deserves a spot in our hall too. Even though he's a good-fer-nothin' catcher (that's the party line around here, right?).