Before announcing whether or not anybody was enshrined, I would like to ask the community if anybody wants to volunteer to help with this project. Much thanks to Daneeka's Ghost (Results Spreadsheets) and Hungry Joe (graphics) who have been helping out.
And, if anyone is up for it, I could use some additional help with keeping the stats sheet updated. We still plan on only doing one ballot per month.
So life has been really hectic lately. Hopefully you've had time to honor Rube Waddell and Cy Young in your own way. We're adding six pitchers and six hitters this go round.
I noticed the player spreadsheet was getting really crowded. I've divided the hitters up into 8 separate tabs for their primary positions. I've still kept a tab for all hitters.
Ballot Due Date: Monday, November 3. I'll send it out within the next seven days.
Last Time On The Ballot
Buck Ewing
New Hitters
Frank Chance
Art Devlin
Kid Eberfeld
Deacon McGuire
Cy Seymour
Jimmy Sheckard
New Pitchers
Bob Ewing
Kid Gleason
Clark Griffith
Earl Moore
Jack Powell
Doc White
Nearly every player on the ballot lost ground from the previous month, some by considerable margins. In fact, the electorate has pretty consistently gone back and forth and if I was a betting man, I'd say next month most players will see a bump. I can think of two reasons this could be the case.
1. Big Name Effect. When someone like Cy Young appears on the ballot who is a no doubter, he can make other pitchers not look that amazing. I believe this happens with the real Hall, but they have a silly vote limit, so it makes sense statistically as well.
2. Inconsistent electorate. It could simply be that some big-hall voters don't show up every month, and some small-hall voters don't show up every month. I'm too lazy to actually look at the stats.
It's probably a combination of both. What I do know is that we had 20 voters this month, so it took 15 YES votes for an election. Let's honor those who bribed enough voters.
Rube Waddell may have had a development disability and severe mental illness, but he also now has a plaque at the Half-Baked Hall and the support of 85% of the Citizens. Who could ask for more?
Despite his lackluster resume, Cy Young managed to get 95% of the vote. How long will he hold this record?
Remaining on the Ballot (16 Players)
Joe McGinnity, who was oh-so-close to being elected on his first ballot, absolutely plummets all the way to 50%. Bill Dahlen and Wee Willie Keeler make impressive showings, with Addie Joss not far behind. A lot of people see just enough in Jesse Tannehill to let him stick around another month despite just getting one firm YES vote.
Players in italics will be on their final ballot next go round. And that one player this time around will be Buck Ewing.
John McGraw: 70% +2
Bill Dahlen: 65%
Willie Keeler: 65%
Addie Joss: 60%
Amos Rusie: 60% -13
Jesse Burkett: 55% -9
Joe McGinnity: 50% -23
Buck Ewing: 35% -6
Jim O'Rourke: 35% -1
Jimmy Collins: 35% +3
Vic Willis: 35%
Jake Beckley: 30% -11
Joe Kelley: 30% +16
Elmer Flick: 20%
Jack Chesbro: 20% +6
Jesse Tannehill: 5%
Falling off the Ballot (14 Players)
Comiskey consistently had two-fifths of the electorate wanting him in due to his efforts off the diamond. I honestly haven't added any other players elected to the Hall unless they also had some good playing statistic as it appears the electorate wants to focus on players at this point. Perhaps when we get caught up, we can talk about having a special ballot for pioneers.
Monte Ward and Pete Browning were on their final ballots, and their dying gasps are pretty pathetic. Browning would have fallen off regardless. Otherwise, we lost two players on their third ballot in Thompson and Duffy.
Topsy Hartsel got one vote, presumably because of his name. And Harry Steinfeldt, the third baseman next to Tinker, Evers, and Chance, gets one vote as well.
Charlie Comiskey: 40% -1
Monte Ward: 25% -20
Pete Browning: 15% -26
Sam Thompson: 10% -8
Ginger Beaumont: 5%
Hugh Duffy: 5% -13
Topsy Hartsel: 5%
Deacon Phillippe: 5%
Harry Steinfeldt: 5%
Fred Tenney: 5%
Harry Howell: 0%
Sam Leever: 0%
Freddy Parent: 0%
Roy Thomas: 0%
Only two years for this ballot, as many above average players all decided to quit at the same time. You may have heard of one of the new guys.
Ballot Due Date: Monday, September 29th. I'll send it out sometime next week.
Last Time On The Ballot
Pete Browning
Charlie Comiskey
Monte Ward
New Hitters
Ginger Beaumont
Bill Dahlen
Elmer Flick
Topsy Hartsel
Willie Keeler
Freddy Parent
Harry Steinfeldt
Fred Tenney
Roy Thomas
New Pitchers
Harry Howell
Addie Joss
Sam Leever
Deacon Philippe
Jesse Tannehill
Rube Waddell
Vic Willis
Cy Young
This post is dedicated to Can of Corn, who seemed in a foul mood last night. Dude, here's my advice. Stop worrying about the present and keep your mind in the past!
Scot has nearly caught up with bios for all of the electees so far. Check them out here. There's even a shout out to Can of Corn in Billy Hamilton's bio. Also, did you know Dan Brouthers once killed a catcher?
So this ballot had an underwhelming set of names. I had heard of Joe McGinnity and Jack Chesbro, but I doubt many looked at that list and was penciling in their YES votes before doing some research. So I thought that might open the door for someone who had been on the ballot for a while.
I was right.
Lady and gentlemen, your 1909 electees!
On his fifth ballot, the 19th century version of Ozzie Smith squeaks into the hall with 77% of the vote. He's now the second electee (along with Ross Barnes) who is not in Cooperstown. He also continues a string of awesome staches.
That's two shortstops getting elected this go-round. And both held down 77% of the vote. Any chance Honus Wagner can do better?
Remaining on the Ballot (15 Players)
McGinnity breaks the record for highest vote percentage on the first ballot without getting elected. Rusie makes a huge jump, nearly making it in as well. Most players saw improvement this time around, with Jesse Burkett benefiting the most with a whopping 28 point jump. Hall-of-Famer Chesbro is barely hanging on after one ballot.
Players in italics will be on their final ballot next go round. There are three of them. If you want to stump for any of them, now's your chance!
Joe McGinnity: 73%
Amos Rusie: 73% +18
John McGraw: 68% +0
Jesse Burkett: 64% +28
Monte Ward: 45% +4
Jake Beckley: 41%
Pete Browning: 41% +14
Charlie Comiskey: 41% +0
Buck Ewing: 41% +18
Jim O'Rourke: 36% +9
Jimmy Collins: 32%
Hugh Duffy: 18% +9
Sam Thompson: 18% -5
Jack Chesbro: 14%
Joe Kelley: 14%
Falling off the Ballot (14 Players)
None of the five players on their final ballot made it in. King Kelly tried his best. He was between 55% and 67% his entire time on the ballot, but as this isn't Survivor, Daneeka's Ghost just couldn't buy enough votes to get his guy in. One of the best two-way players of all-time, Bob Caruthers, stalls at 50%. CarterHayes' guy Harry Stovey peters out on his final chance.
Bid McPhee, the best full-time second baseman of the 19th century, drops off on his fourth ballot.
Four of the new guys couldn't garner a single vote.
King Kelly: 64% +5
Pud Galvin: 59% +9
Bob Caruthers: 50% +0
Harry Stovey: 32% -4
Paul Hines: 27% +0
Bid McPhee: 23% +5
Bill Dinneen: 14%
Al Orth: 14%
Arlie Latham: 9%
Lave Cross: 5%
Dan McGann: 0%
Claude Ritchey: 0%
Jack Taylor: 0%
Jimmy Williams: 0%
I will be giving a few days for people to make pleas for those on their final ballot.
Date Ballot Sent Out: Thursday, August 21
Date Ballot Due: Monday, September 1
Final Ballot
Paul Hines
King Kelly
Harry Stovey
Bob Caruthers
Pud Galvin
New Pitchers
Jack Chesbro
Bill Dinneen
Joe McGinnity
Al Orth
Jack Taylor
New Hitters
Jack Beckley
Jimmy Collins
Lave Cross
George Davis
Joe Kelley
Arlie Latham
Dan McGann
Claude Ritchey
Jimmy Williams
Before we begin, I'd like to mention to those reading that if you're not yet a voter and would like to be, please let me know. You can join any time!
Also, if you haven't been following Coffeyville Whirlwind, Scot continues to do bios for our electees.
22 voters plunked down ballot this time around. 17 votes were needed for election, and 6 votes were needed to avoid eternal shame. Three players had one final chance to get elected.
For the first time since the initial election, we will be looking at more than three years this go round, as the 1903-1905 classes were pretty weak. We have 16 players from the previous ballot and 16 new players.
Due Date: Monday, August 4. I'll extend this if there's demand.
Players On Their Final Ballot
Candy Cummings
Dave Orr
Deacon White
Before we get to the results, I want to shout out to Scot at Coffeyville Whirlwind for profiling our electorate. Awesome stuff.
We had an excellent turnout this time with 24 voters chiming in. Let's welcome AMR and Can of Corn to the ranks! And I'm confident in saying that their presence affected the outcomes. We'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not that's a good thing.
So after some discussion we decided that we do not want the same players on the ballot indefinitely, even if they don't fall below 25%. Here are the reasons:
1. Some players likely will not change much. For example, it appears about 35% of voters feel that Comiskey deserves to go in because of what he did outside of his playing days. This will likely stay rather static.
2. For players close to the 75% threshold, the pressure of falling off the ballot will likely generate more discussion.
3. We felt it will be more fun if players are judged against their contemporaries.
Therefore, the MAXIMUM number of times a player can be on the ballot is SIX. This is ballot number five. When it's a player's last turn on the ballot, it will be made clear.
Three years per ballot isn't standard, but so far it's how things are falling. 1903-1905 only has seven eligible players, so there may be more years on the next ballot if we have the regular amount of people fall off.
Due Date: July 7. I'm going on my honeymoon on July 11, so I hope to post results on July 10.
