You've waited long enough, and you'll wait even longer to get plaques. But for now, here are your results. I'll have the next ballot up within a week. And a certain someone who was celebrated this weekend will be on it! Color barrier broken.
Mel Ott unsurprisingly gathers 100% of the vote, becoming the 10th player to do so.
Carl Hubbell falls just one vote short of unanimous, garnering 95% of the votes cast.
Hank Greenberg convinced the voters based on his peak level. 90% of them anyway.
Arky Vaughan had a real hard time with the BBWAA voters after he retired. No so much with the HBH voters! Arky gets in first ballot with 85%
Bill Dickey becomes the second catcher after Mickey Cochrane to grace the hallowed half-baked halls with 85% of the vote.
Luke Appling meanwhile becomes the 7th shortstop (after Vaughan) to make it in, garnering 80% of the vote.
Remaining on the Ballot (12 Players)
Gabby Hartnett falls short by just one vote again, garnering one maybe vote as well. Otherwise, Ted Lyons makes a strong debut. Bill Terry really drops off the table from last ballot and has only one more chance to get elected.
Gabby Hartnett (70%) -2
Ted Lyons (65%)
Joe Medwick (55%)
Dizzy Dean (50%)
Wes Ferrell (50%) +6
Red Ruffing (50%)
Bill Terry (50%) -17
Joe Gordon (45%)
Bob Johnson (40%) +7
Ernie Lombardi (40%)
Lefty Gomez (45%)
Stan Hack (35%)
Falling Off the Ballot (11 Players)
Hall-of-famer Chuck Klein is the big loser here, dropping off after losing a few voters from last time around. Otherwise, I think we may have set a record for most players getting zero votes, even though we've elevated the minimum WAR requirements. Perhaps there's just so much talent on the ballots now that borderline players look even worse than they used to?
Chuck Klein (30%) -14
Babe Herman (10%)
Schoolboy Rowe (10%)
Bucky Walters (10%)
Mel Harder (5%)
Dick Bartell (0%)
Tommy Bridges (0%)
Rick Ferrell (0%)
Augie Galan (0%)
Claude Passeau (0%)
Dixie Walker (0%)
I'm pleased to see Lyons finish so high in his first ballot. Hartnett's results are disappointing, though; he basically had equal claim with Mickey Cochrane to the title of "Greatest Catcher Ever" when he retired, and he's still in the top ten. Hopefully he gets over the bar next round.
Well I used a maybe there so that didn't help, I did want to reflect a bit, but if you want to champion it that would help. The "when he retired" thing isn't something I weigh heavily, but maybe I'm wrong there.
As I've looked over Joe Mauer's career relative to other catchers I've been convinced catchers have been underappreciated, particularly as we now have a much better idea of the toll the position can have on a player, particularly late-career. I know batting average doesn't usually get a player into the hall, but in my mind batting average as a catcher is a unique thing. Harnett's career .297 is the 5th highest of actually-enshrined catchers. That's notable to me.
I'm not that impressed about his batting average rank as when he played was an explosive offensive period. But for me it's as simple as he's one of the 15 best catchers of all-time (relative to his peers) and there are so few catchers in the hall. He caught 34 games at the age of 40 with an OPS+ of 120! Fisk-like.
I'm also surprised that Lyons scored so well, but I'm disappointed in the falling support for Bill Terry.
While we're puzzling over things, how did Dizzy Dean only get 50%? I'm curious about the rationale of non-voters.
His peak was shorter than Johan's and also not as good? Johan was the best pitcher among 30 teams for 3 or 4 years. Dean was the 2nd or 3rd or 4th best pitcher for six years but never the best and there was only 16 teams.
Convince me?
I don't know that I agree he wasn't the best at his peak. He led MLB in K's 4 straight years, led in complete games those same 4 years, was the ace pitcher on a Series winning team in the time, managed an MVP award in that time, black ink is 52 (nearly all of it acquired in that peak), 7-year peak in JAWS is 42.9 (total is 44.9 for career). In short, when he was good he likely was the best in the league.
Injury shortened career, so you can take some issue with counting stats, but for me that matters less. I like the Pucketts to be included. Indeed, Dean is probably the Kirby Puckett of pitchers. And if that doesn't convince you...
Not the best comparison. Puckett played at a high level for longer, though his peak was not as high. Johan is probably the better comparison in this regard.
I also like the peak guys in there. Hence why I voted for Addie Joss. I'll think about it further the next time around.
Immortalized. Aside, I think Carl Hubbell is missing from the stats spreadsheet. I didn't see him in the pitcher tab.