In this, our 13th year, the STATLG-L Internet Hall of Fame balloting demonstrates anew the uncertainties involved in trying to decide whether Player X or Player Y has the credentials to merit your vote for induction into the Hall. There were a number of intriguing questions to be answered this time around, dealing with both first-year eligibles and holdovers from last year.
We recorded a total of 2363 ballots in this year’s edition of the STATLG-L IHOF, appreciably less than last year’s record total and even a bit lower than the number of ballots cast two years ago. I don’t think we can blame this drop on the absence of a Veterans Committee ballot this year, and I won’t speculate about other possible reasons for the decline. I must report, however, that I personally did less shilling for the event than I’ve done in previous seasons, so maybe some of the decrease can be laid at my own feet. The average number of names on a ballot was 5.83, very similar to last year’s 5.96 and well above the 5.18 names per ballot a year earlier. Given the total number of ballots recorded this time, the 75% threshold was set at 1773 votes while the 5% gateway for retention on the ballot (if we, rather than the BBWAA, made that decision) came to 119 votes.
To the best of my knowledge, the STATLG-L vote is still the only public-access Hall of Fame balloting found anywhere. While those aging members of the Baseball Writers Association of America seemingly make their decisions based on little more than their memories of the heroes of their youth (and perhaps a few baseball card stats), we readers and surfers of BP can make use of the sophisticated analytic tools found here to compare and contrast the candidates. With this added information at our disposal, surely we can do a better and more accurate job of assessing the merits of the candidates than those besotted BBWAA members.
Or can we? Throughout our dozen years of existence, the STATLG-L participants have voted very much as the writers did. For example, Ron Santo had no better luck with us than he did with the BBWAA. We were ahead of the writers on Niekro, Fisk, and Carter, and never chose Sutton, Perez, or Puckett, but those are minor inconsistencies.
While we wait breathlessly for word from Cooperstown about the results of the new Veterans Committee balloting, the STATLG-L Internet Hall of Fame voters have spoken their collective mind here on BP.
While we wait breathlessly for word from Cooperstown about the results of the
new Veterans Committee balloting, the STATLG-L Internet Hall of Fame voters have
spoken their collective mind here on BP.
While we wait breathlessly for word from Cooperstown about the results of the new Veterans Committee balloting, the STATLG-L Internet Hall of Fame voters have spoken their collective mind here on BP. Well, sort of. The voting patterns on the two ballots (Players and Composite) were rather similar in some respects. On both ballots, only…
Almost from the day it opened, the Baseball Hall of Fame has had some form of a Veterans Committee to supplement the player selections voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America. In fact, Cy Young, who finished sixth behind the first five inductees, also received the fourth-highest 1936 vote total from the Old-Timers Committee.
A total of 3558 voters cast ballots this season.
Cast your vote for this year’s Hall of Fame class.
Anyone want to guess which Web site will use the headline "Mr. Smith Goes to Cooperstown" after the BBWAA Hall of Fame results are announced on Tuesday? It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that first-time eligible Ozzie Smith will be elected by the writers. The big question is whether any of the other 27 players…
A fascinating season of immense accomplishments … a riveting post-season capped by an implausible Game 7 in the World Series … postseason awards that confounded the experts … what better way to cap off the 2001 baseball season than voting to determine whose face will grace a plaque in Cooperstown next summer? Yes indeed, it’s…
The seagull lobby couldn’t get out their vote. Neither could Ohio State basketball fans. Participants in the tenth annual STATLG-L Internet Hall of Fame balloting have elected outfielder Dave Winfield, appearing on the HOF ballot for the first time, to their version of Cooperstown. Many thanks to the 1632 people who cast HOF votes, more…
Many thanks to the record 518 participants in this ninth edition of the STATLG-L Hall of Fame voting. The results are in the book … and nobody won. None of the 30 players on this year’s Baseball Writers Association of America ballot were named on the requisite 75% of the submitted votes. Fact is, no…