Concluding the non-players ballot.
11. Gabe Paul
2003 VC ballot: 16.5%
Claims to fame: longtime general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, Houston Colt .45s (very briefly, a year before the team took the field), and Cleveland Indians, and president of the New York Yankees from 1973-78, contributing to the construction of the 1976-78 World Series teams. Instrumental in implementing division-based realignment concurrent with the 1969 expansion.
Paul is another lifelong baseball man who saw some on-field successes derived from his efforts, but nothing that stands up and demands inclusion in the Hall. Being named to the ballot (again) is sufficient recognition for his career.
Chipmaker's vote: no.
12. Paul Richards
2003 VC ballot: 12.7%
Claims to fame: manager for 12 seasons with the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles; overall 923 wins and a .506 winning percentage. Best finish was second place with the 1960 Orioles. Known for unconventional baseball thinking and not blindly following "the book" – would make one-batter positional rearrangements including putting the current pitcher at a fielding position temporarily, then bringing him back to the mound; encouraging runners to be hit by a live ball to break up potential double plays (leading to a rule change about such situations); introducing an oversized catcher's mitt particularly for use with knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm; first manager known to track pitch counts and use pitch limits; teaching the small details in the rules to all his players and looking for any tiny edge he could try to get. General manager of the Houston Colt .45s/Astros, 1961-65.
Bonus baseball points: Richards was a player, a catcher, for eight seasons (1932-35, '43-46), batted .227/.305/.301 with 321 hits and 157 walks in 1602 plate appearances (having a lifetime SLG lower than one's OBP is clearly not impossible but is pretty rare). Played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Athletics, took a break, and came back with the Detroit Tigers, including the 1945 World Series champion team, wherein he played in all seven games and batted .211/.348/.316 with four hits (two doubles), four walks, and six RBI.
Richards is acclaimed as a tough guy who didn't care if you liked him as long as you respected his work. In general I agree with that attitude. Richards gets a lot of credit as an innovator. However, his innovations tended (of necessity) to be small and not very lasting, though managing to get a rule changed to stop players from doing some advantageous maneuver is rather uncommon. Smart guy who never stuck around to reap the full flower (postseason appearances, that is) of his efforts, though perhaps he wasn't the right sort of manager to lead a team to playing under October skies.
Tough and smart – I gotta like the guy – but not Hall material. If pitch counts had caught on soon after his time, I'd give him more credit for the concept.
Chipmaker's vote: no.
13. Bill White
2003 VC ballot: 27.8%
Claims to fame: President of the National League, 1989-94. Yankees broadcaster, 1971-89.
Baseball bonus points: White was a player, mainly a first baseman, for 13 seasons (1956, '58-69) with the New York/San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals (including the 1964 World Series champion team), and Philadelphia Phillies. Hit .286/.351/.455 with 1706 hits (202 homers) and 596 walks in 6680 plate appearances. Five time All-Star. Seven time winner of the NL Gold Glove at first base (1960-66). Finished third in the 1964 NL MVP voting (behind Boyer and Callison, and ahead of Frank Robinson, Torre, Mays, Santo, Clemente, Brock, Aaron, Marichal, Koufax – quite a ballot that year). A lot of statistical Top Ten finishes without ever winning a season crown in anything (led the NL in plate appearances in 1963). Good player at a position that demands outstanding greatness to win Cooperstown bronze, which is why he never got elected as a player (placed on three ballots, 1975-77, peaking at 1.93%). The Gold Gloves are impressively nice, but defense never got a first baseman into the Hall. Position matters.
White was a good player but, clearly, not a great one; the BBWAA never came close to electing him, and that's not the sort of verdict of history the VC should be seeking to overturn. In his post-playing baseball career, White was primarily a broadcaster, and for them the Hall has the Ford C. Frick Award, which White never won. His tenure as president of the NL was not particularly noteworthy, and came at a time when Commissioner Selig was phasing out the position (both league presidencies are now only memories). As a generic "ambassador for the game", I can think of several people with deservedly higher profiles than White. Nice guy to have around, sure, but Hall measure? Not really.
Chipmaker's vote: no.
14. Dick Williams
2003 VC ballot: 41.8%
Claims to fame: longtime major league manager with the Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics, California Angels, Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, and Seattle Mariners. Led the Sox to the 1967 World Series in his first year managing; won two championships (1972-73) and another AL West title with the A's; brought the Expos to its only October appearance (1981); and took the Padres to the 1984 World Series (breaking the hearts of Cubs fans everywhere). Managed in 21 seasons, overall 1571 wins and a .520 winning percentage. Longest tenure was five seasons in Montreal. Moved Rollie Fingers from the rotation to the bullpen, putting him on the path to his own Hall Of Fame career and furthering the development of "The Closer" role.
Baseball bonus points: Williams was a player, primarily an outfielder but also played a good bit at first and third, for 13 seasons (1951-54, '56-64), with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, and Boston Red Sox. Batted .260/.312/.392 with 768 hits and 227 walks in 3265 plate appearances. Was never a full-time player (peak games played of 130) and was only a three-quarters player in three seasons, and such men are rarely considered for the Hall.
A good and reliable manager who, similar to Martin, wore out his welcomes rather quickly. Teams will put up with almost anything when winning, but when losing takes hold, the manager is among the first to go, especially if he's the inflexible sort Williams was known to be. Four World Series teams in 20 years is pretty good, but Williams' success never lasted (yes, the A's repeated once under him and then again after he left, but Finley gets more credit for building those teams than Williams does; witness the third consecutive championship with Williams nowhere around). Even feeling warmly sentimental over the 1967 "Impossible Dream" Red Sox team, I can't give Williams the nod.
Chipmaker's vote: no (but thank you very much for 1967, Dick).
15. Phil Wrigley
2003 VC ballot: 11.4%
Claims to fame: longtime owner of the Chicago Cubs (family owned from 1925-81; took over in 1932). Decided not to install lights in Wrigley Field (named for his father, but the name association is unavoidable). Pioneered radio and television broadcasts to spread Cubs fandom. Won NL pennants in 1932, '35, '38, and '45, and didn't see October again until after the team was sold. Made a lot of money in the chewing gum business.
A longtime owner of a beloved (but somewhat accursed and largely unsuccessful on the field) franchise, Wrigley's name lives on in the park his father renamed. Did some good things. Had that long, long period of failing to produce postseason teams (from 1947-81, the Cubs had seven winning (over .500) seasons, and six of those were consecutive, 1967-72, the later Banks-Billy Williams-Santo-Jenkins era), which somehow came to make the Cubs move luvvable. Cannot even remotely convince myself to support Wrigley; as owners go, I could hardly bear O'Malley, and he had a lot more impact. Wrigley just kinda sits there with the famous name and the dismal on-field W-L records.
Chipmaker's vote: no.
I hadn't noticed before, but the non-player ballot has the exact same 15 names as the 2003 ballot did. Really, that's disappointing, that the committee-based method couldn't find someone else to consider. Perhaps a better approach would be to disqualify (for at least one voting cycle) the bottom 1/3 finishers in the election results, just to rotate in some other worthies and keep it interesting. The relegated group could be reduced for every person inducted, as the point would be to get repeat names off the ballot and new ones on it.
Chipmaker's final non-player ballot: Finley, Harvey, Miller, O'Malley.
If I could vote for only one: Marvin Miller.
Prediction of the actual VC non-player ballot results, on which I wouldn't bet a nickel: Harvey and Miller elected.
Onward to the player candidates sometime Saturday, during the sane waking hours.
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