Category Archives: WGOM Half-Baked Hall

WGOM Half-Baked Hall

WGOM Half-Baked Hall: 1999

32 Comments

In true half-baked fashion, I'm reviving the Half-Baked Hall and completely changing most of the format. I'm sad that it halted, and I just didn't have the energy to keep it going the way it was, and it appeared most of you didn't either. Hats off to NBB who posted a bio for George Kell 18 months ago, the last time this project was going. Coincidentally I'm sure, NBB posted his bio for Kell just a couple weeks before my daughter was born.

To recap, we have held votes for every year from the beginning of baseball through 1956. We finally broke the color barrier, electing Jackie Robinson. Lou Boudreau and Ralph Kiner each landed two-thirds of the vote, joining a bunch of players who are thus far on the outside looking in. We may relitigate some of these older players later, but for now I want to focus on the players that at least some of us watched play.

So now, the new format:

  • One year at a time, chosen by random.org
  • All players with 40 career WAR will be on the ballot, along with some others
  • There will still be time for discussion.
  • No more stats spreadsheet. You all know how to use baseball-reference.
  • Votes will no longer be via a Google form. I'll just post a poll on the site. As thus we won't have public ballots anymore.
  • Votes will now be just Yes or No.
  • 75% needed for election
  • Only one vote per ballot. Players who garner at least 40% of the vote will be tucked away for a later debate. If I recall, when each player got six ballots, we never had a player elected who didn't at least start with 40% of the vote.

Who belongs in the Half-Baked Hall?

  • Wade Boggs (78%, 14 Votes)
  • Jim Abbott (11%, 2 Votes)
  • Darryl Strawberry (11%, 2 Votes)
  • Chili Davis (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Willie McGee (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Tony Phillips (0%, 0 Votes)
  • None of them! (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 14

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WGOM Half-Baked Hall

Half-Baked Hall: 1957-1963 Ballot

2 Comments

We're now entering the part of the ballot that gets perhaps somewhat trickier, as a lot of the players lost time due to being in the Negro Leagues, being at war, or both. So when you look at Ted Williams and debating whether or not he qualifies, remember he lost five years to war.

We've also got our first Negro League only player on a ballot. Dread Pirate will do the honors this time.

Negro Leaguer

Buck Leonard (DPWY)

Final Ballot

Nobody

Returning Players

Lou Boudreau (2nd), Ralph Kiner (2nd), Ted Lyons, Joe Gordon (3rd), Wes Ferrell (5th), Joe Medwick (3rd), Red Ruffing (3rd), Dizzy Dean (3rd), Ernie Lombardi (3rd), Lefty Gomez (3rd), Bobby Doerr (2nd)

New Hitters

George Kell (New Britain Bo)
Roy Campanella (yickit)
Pee Wee Reese (nibbish)
Enos Slaughter (freealonzo)
Larry Doby (yickit)
Ted Williams (freealonzo)
Al Dark (canofcorn)
Gil McDougald (nibbish)
Richie Ashburn (Scot)
Stan Musial (New Britain Bo)
Gil Hodges (DPWY)
Red Schoendienst (bhiggum)

New Pitchers

Dizzy Trout (Beau)
Bob Lemon (Beau)
Virgil Trucks (canofcorn)
Murry Dickson (philosofer)
Don Newcombe (bhiggum)
Ned Garver (philosofer)
Early Wynn (Scot)

Stats

WGOM Half-Baked Hall

Half-Baked Hall: 1956 Results

6 Comments

Now that Jackie Robinson has been elected, I wanted to check in with you guys on your interest in considering Negro League players. If people were interested they could volunteer to do a write-up on a player (that they would want to vote for) and they could be added to the ballot.  Either a special Negro League ballot or we could just add them sporadically as we go along.

Are you interested in voting on Negro League Players?

  • Yes (83%, 5 Votes)
  • No (17%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 6

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Are you interested in doing a write up on a Negro League Player?

  • Yes (67%, 4 Votes)
  • No (33%, 2 Votes)

Total Voters: 6

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It's been pretty white up in here until now. Not only did Jackie Robinson do good, he is our only unanimous inductee for this ballot.

Dimaggio skates in with 94% of the vote. Hey, he wasn't Ted Williams.

Steak, brown rice, black beans, guacamole, cheese, hot salsa, and 94% of the vote.

With 83% of the vote, I would say that's game, set, match.

The electorate was clearly on the side of clearly very talented. At least 83% of us were.

Is that Joseph Gordon-Levitt with 83% of the vote? Anyway, Gabby gets in on his fourth ballot.

Below you'll find plaques for those votes in last time. Thanks hungry joe!

     

Staying On The Ballot

Boudreau and Kiner have nice debuts which will likely get them elected.  Joe Gordon makes the biggest leap, crossing that coveted 50% line. Nearly everyone else drops.

Lou Boudreau (67%)
Ralph Kiner (67%)
Ted Lyons (67%) +2
Joe Gordon (56%) +11
Wes Ferrell (44%) -6
Joe Medwick (44%) -11
Red Ruffing (44%) -6
Dizzy Dean (39%) -11
Ernie Lombardi (39%) -1
Lefty Gomez (33%) -12
Bobby Doerr (28%)

Falling off the Ballot

Bill Terry came close at times and made his final ballot push but just didn't impress enough of us to get in. Meanwhile Bob Johnson who I have a soft spot for sputtered out, as did Stan Hack.

The legendary Phil Rizzuto did not impress and is promptly booted before anyone even had a chance to do a write-up on him.

Bill Terry (61%) +11
Bob Johnson (33%) -7
Stan Hack (22%) -13
Dutch Leonard (17%)
Charlie Keller (11%)
Bobo Newsom (11%)
Phil Rizzuto (11%)
Bob Elliott (6%)
Eddie Stanky (6%)
Harry Brecheen (0%)
Bill Nichsolon (0%)
Vern Stephens (0%)

Votes

Graphs

WGOM Half-Baked Hall

Half-Baked Hall: 1951-1956

34 Comments

So you may have heard recently about this guy in the news named Jackie Robinson. As it turns out, he was a pretty decent player and shows up on this ballot. And philosofer was randomly assigned to finding something to write about the guy. Good luck, dude.

Also, last chance to vote for...

Final Ballot

Bill Terry

Returning Players

Wes Ferrell (4th), Gabby Hartnett (4th), Bob Johnson (3rd), Ted Lyons (2nd), Joe Medwick (2nd), Dizzy Dean (2nd), Red Ruffing (2nd), Joe Gordon (2nd), Ernie Lombardi (2nd), Lefty Gomez (2nd), Stan Hack (2nd)

New Hitters

Lou Boudreau (Beau)
Joe Dimaggio (daneekasghost)
Bobby Doerr (CanofCorn)
Bob Elliott (DPWY)
Charlie Keller (CanofCorn)
Ralph Kiner (freealonzo)
Johnny Mize (yickit)
Bill Nicholson (nibbish)
Phil Rizzuto (yickit)
Jackie Robinson (philosofer)
Eddie Stanky (daneekasghost)
Vern Stephens (Beau)

New Pitchers

Harry Breechen (Scot)
Bob Feller (freealonzo)
Dutch Leonard (nibbish)
Hal Newhouser (bhiggum)
Bobo Newsom (New Britain Bo)

Stats

WGOM Half-Baked Hall

Half-Baked Hall: 1946-1950

68 Comments

And we're back at it! Due to the rule changes this time around, I first have to break some sad news about players who were on the ballot who have been unceremoniously cut off.

Sam Rice: Fell to 33% on his 5th ballot after starting out with 56% of the vote. That sound you hear is Scot weeping.

Hack Wilson: Fell to 28% on his 5th ballot after starting out with 44%. Who knew WGOMers weren't impressed with RBIs?

Earl Averill: Fell to 28% (+ 11 maybe) on his 2nd ballot.

Pie Traynor: Fell to 39% on his third ballot. Sorry Pepper.

Waite Hoyt: Actually increased his vote total to 33% (+ 6 maybe) on his third ballot, but it wasn't enough.

Tony Lazzeri: Started out with 16% of the vote but with 42% giving him a maybe. Once people realized that it was okay not to vote for a Yankee, they backed off. He fell to 28% with 0% maybe on his third ballot.

Also, these players were going to be on the last ballot before we took a break, but no longer meet the threshold. Hal Trosky, Billy Jurges, Ben Chapman, Roy Cullenbine, Curt Davis, and Freddie Fitzsimmons. We hardly knew ye.

Now for what you've been waiting for. Below is your ballot. For write-ups, I gave everyone two people this time around. If you no longer want to do write-ups, please let me know.

Final Ballot

Nobody

Returning Players

Earl Averill (3rd), Wes Ferrell (3rd), Gabby Hartnett (3rd), Bob Johnson (2nd), Chuck Klein (2nd), Bill Terry (5th)

New Hitters

Luke Appling (nibbish)
Dick Bartell (Scot)
Bill Dickey (philosopher)
Rick Ferrell (daneekasghost)
Augie Galan (bhiggum)
Joe Gordon (New Britain Bo)
Hank Greenberg (yickit)
Stan Hack (nibbish)
Babe Herman (nibbish)
Ernie Lombardi (freealonzo)
Joe Medwick (Can of Corn)
Mel Ott (freealonzo)
Arky Vaughan (New Britain Bo)
Dixie Walker (Beau)

New Pitchers

Tommy Bridges (Scot)
Dizzy Dean (philosopher)
Lefty Gomez (Can of Corn)
Mel Harder (yickit)
Carl Hubbell (DPWY)
Ted Lyons (DPWY)
Claude Passeau (freealonzo)
Schoolboy Rowe (Beau)
Red Ruffing (daneekasghost)
Bucky Walters (bhiggum)

Stats

Recent Ballot

Ballots will be sent out February 17th.  Please don't stress about the write-ups. Even a passing comment or two is welcome if you're feeling stressed for time.

WGOM Half-Baked Hall

Half-Baked Hall: New Plaques, New Rules, New Life

26 Comments

It's been eight months since we last looked at the Half-Baked Hall, which I believe is the appropriate amount of half-bakedness. There seemed to be general agreement that it had become kind of a slog for some people, yours truly included, and after giving some significant thought to the matter (at least more than Murray Chass), some changes will be implemented in order to speed things up and hopefully keep things interesting.

My Stuff

  1. The real Hall of Fame ballot always includes guys everyone knows have zero chance of ever making it, like Matt Stairs. While it can be fun to talk about those guys on occasion, the Half-Baked Hall has had many a player that I am confident 100% of you would have been fine never mentioning. For example, Mike Smith. He received zero votes. Anybody remember Mike Smith? Ergo, I will be a little more critical of who I place on the ballot. Thus far, my general criteria has been 30 WAR or a player who otherwise significantly contributed to the game or was notable in some way. I plan on upping the threshold to around 40 WAR. With the exception of 1800s players and modern day relievers, it is doubtful that any nameless hitter from the 1930s with 30.8 WAR is going to receive election, or get anywhere close. Of course, this is a benign dictatorship, and I will gladly place players on the ballot that I miss if someone makes a mildly convincing case.
  2. Right now, each player stays on the ballot for six cycles. I remain comfortable with this amount. So far, several players have been elected on the 5th or 6th ballots after discussion and lobbying, and I like giving players that opportunity. However, according to the spreadsheet, no player has been elected by us ever having received lower than 48% on any ballot (and they were 1800s players). I think it is clear that it is unlikely that if a player starts out with 26% of the vote that they are going to be elected within six cycles, so I will be raising the threshold to stay on the ballot. Now a player that drops below 40% on any ballot will be dropped.
  3. These changes will surely help us get through the years faster, hopefully soon to players that some of us saw play. Of course, it is possible a deserving player will be unfairly dropped due to these rule changes. It is for certain that periodically we will hold reconsideration ballots, much like the veterans committees. However, this will not be a selected group of voters; everyone will participate. It is just another periodic look at some guys perhaps with new perspective (or new WGOM voters).

Your Stuff

Of course, all of this is possible because of you guys. Let me know if you have any other suggestions. Some questions:

--Should we keep "Maybe" as a voting option?
--How quickly should we hold each vote?
--Do people still want to do player write-ups?

Any thoughts are welcome as I want this to be enjoyable for everyone and not feel like a chore.

Right now, the following roles are still assigned for help:

Nibbish: Stats spreadsheet
DaneekasGhost: Results spreadsheet
hungry joe: Plaques

Expect a new ballot sometime in the next couple weeks. For now, enjoy the new plaques below of previously enshrined Half-Baked Hallers.

WGOM Half-Baked Hall

Half-Baked Hall: 1945 Results

10 Comments

Sorry we're moving at a snail's pace here. My hours at work should abate sometime around July which will help. Also, maybe hungryjoe will have a computer by then.  I'm not bothering to create crappy plaques this time around. Maybe they'll get made later.

I also have to mention I completed spaced the pitchers who retired in 1943. Carl Hubbell sent me an angry tweet. That will be rectified on the next ballot.

Continue reading Half-Baked Hall: 1945 Results →

WGOM Half-Baked Hall

Half-Baked Hall: 1944-1945

43 Comments

1944 and 1945 were different years for MLB, with most of the stars joining the service. However, a lot of old stars with decrepit bodies were retiring at the same time.

See below for your write-up assignments. Random.org once again believes only Scot should write about the Senators. I gave some of you two assignments. If you feel you can't do them, let me know as soon as possible.

Blurb Date: March 7th

Final Ballot

Red Faber: 71%
Wally Schang: 41%
Joe Sewell: 47%

New Hitters

Dolph Camilli (yickit)
Harlond Clift (bhiggum)
Joe Cronin (Scot)
Tony Cuccinello (DPWY)
Jimmie Foxx (CanofCorn)
Babe Herman (daneekasghost)
Bob Johnson (Beau)
Chuck Klein (philosofer)
Al Simmons (New Britain Bo)
Lloyd Waner (nibbish)
Paul Waner (nibbish)

New Pitchers

Paul Derringer (bhiggum)
Willis Hudlin (DPWY)
Van Mungo (Beau)
Lon Warneke (yickit)

Stats