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
It's been a hell of a year. My wife's grandfather, my cousin's baby, and my sister all passed away. My mother-in-law has cancer (treatable, sounds like it'll be OK, but a couple scary weeks). I left my job. Oh, and we added a third child in May. Sorry for bringing all that up again... sometimes I feel like it's all I talk about.
I'm sure my kids wonder sometimes too. They've been exposed to some big things this year, and they ask some good questions. We've had to have a number of hard conversations with our kids - especially our 5 year old - about they way the world is, why things happen like they do, etc. We've tried not to shy away from the tough answers, but always try to keep a focus on the positive. I know sometimes we slip and give more trite responses, but usually we've done pretty well explaining birth (well, not so much the causes thereof...), death, employment stress, joblessness, etc. And they seem to have done a pretty good job with their processing of the information.
Through each of these moments, sharing the reality of the situation with my kids has helped me too. One of the things that made me feel best about losing my job was when I explained to my son that I had been unhappy working there, and so leaving it was a good thing. I let him know there might be some changes and stress around home, or that we might have to move when I find something (or, I suppose, if I don't find something) but that I would find a new job and we'd all be happier for it. He thought it sounded good, and came up with some of his own positives, like now I could spend more time helping him color.
When my sister died, he was at the hospital. He asked if he could go see her body, and we let him. There were a lot of questions for a few weeks, about life, death, and the afterlife. We're a family of faith, so we talked to him about heaven, letting him know that we don't really have any specific knowledge about it, but that we have faith God takes care of us. Every once in a while there's a new question that pops up - the other day it was about whether animals go to heaven - and so we can tell they're still processing all this information. Heck, I suppose I still am too.
I've wondered at times if I'm doing the right thing by having these conversations with my kids. My parents didn't peel back the curtain on adulthood nearly as early as we are. At the same time, I'm still trying to shield my kids from some of the more trying items, and focus on positive aspects. My hope is that my willingness to talk about big things with them - no matter how young they are - will help them be open with me too.
How about it, citizens? What's your approach to tough conversations with your kids? How did it change as they got older? I'm still stuck with pre-school kids, so I'd imagine school adds all sorts of wrinkles. How much is too much when they're so young? Where have I already gone wrong?
Also, I've been wanting to have these posts feature music that is played for kids. So here's one my favorites for my kids, and when it's your turn, you should share one too!
httpv://youtu.be/4EiU9pTweyw
I stole most of the idea from when Gleeman started his top40 list years ago (still unfinished right?) The below quote is his, and the rest is an excerpt from a book I put together 3 years ago. Some of it is outdated, but I’ve updated the list and stats through 2014.
“The rankings only include time spent playing for the Minnesota Twins. In other words, David Ortiz doesn’t get credit for turning into one of the best players in baseball after joining the Red Sox and Paul Molitor doesn’t get credit for being one of the best players in baseball for the Brewers and Blue Jays. The Twins began playing on April 11, 1961, and that’s when these rankings start as well.”
I used a variety of factors, including longevity and peak value. Longevity included how many years the player was a Twin as well as how many plate appearances or innings pitched that player had in those years. For peak value, I looked at their stats, honors, and awards in their best seasons, as well as how they compared to their teammates. Did they lead their team in OPS or home runs or ERA for starters or WPA? If so, that got some bonus points. I factored in postseason heroics, awards (gold gloves, silver sluggers, MVPs, Cy Youngs), statistical achievements (batting titles, home run leaders, ERA champs, etc), and honors (all star appearances), and I looked at team success as well. If you were the #1 starter on a division winning champ, that gave you more points than the #1 starter on a cellar dweller. I looked at some of the advanced stats like WPA, WAR (as calculated by fan graphs and baseball-reference.com), WARP (as calculated by Baseball Prospectus), and Win Shares (as calculated by Bill James). For hitters, I also looked at OPS and the old school triple crown statistics like batting average, home runs, stolen bases, and RBI (and not only where you finished within the AL in any given year, but where you appear on the top25 lists amongst all Twins in the last 50 years). For pitchers I looked at strikeouts, innings pitched, win/loss percentage, ERA as well as ERA+). If there was a metric that was used for all 54 years of Twins history, I tried to incorporate it. I tended to give more credit to guys who were starters instead of part time/platoon players, more credit to position players over pitchers (just slightly, but probably unfairly) and starters over relievers (and closers over middle relievers). There’s no formula to my magic, just looking at a lot of factors and in the end going with the gut in all tie-breakers. Up in the top10 I’m looking at All star appearances, Cy Young and MVP votes, batting average or ERA titles or top10 finishes, etc, and placement in the top25 hitting and pitching lists in Twins history as well. In the middle 100s, it’s more about who started a few more years or had 2 good seasons rather than 1 with possibly an occasional all-star berth or top10 finish in SB or strikeouts. Once you’re in the latter half of the 200s there are none of those on anyone’s resume, so its basically just looking at peak season in OPS+ or ERA+, WAR, Win Shares, and who started the most years, had the most at bats, or pitched the most innings. What the player did as a coach, manager, or broadcaster is not taken into consideration for this list, so Billy Martin, Tom Kelly or Billy Gardner weren’t able to make the top 300 since they were poor players and Frank Quilici didn’t improve his status due to his managing career.
Continue reading One man’s opinion of the top300 Twins of all time-updated for 2014 with new additions: Hughes, Santana, Suzuki, Escobar, Gibson
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%
After AMR's critique, I felt compelled to try again and limit each word to appearing only once. I updated the code to handle basic contractions and better deal with embedded HTML. What follows are the most used five words for each person that are also not the among anyone else's most used five words. For most people, the five words rank among their top 15-25 words.
The last time the Twins fired a manager, back in 1986, they waffled and wavered and oscillated between candidates. Jobs were offered and promised and then withdrawn. The whole process was, quite simply, bizarre.
Continue reading The Last Managerial Search
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
