2007 Baseball HOF VC Ballot: The Players (part 4 of 4; the pitchers)

And now, the pitchers, as we conclude our tour of the 2007 VC ballots.

21. Wes Ferrell
Playing career: 15 seasons; Cleveland Indians (1927-33), Boston Red Sox (1934-37), Washington Senators (1937-38), New York Yankees (1938-39), Brooklyn Dodgers (1940), Boston Braves (1941).
Standout season(s): 1930 (25-13, 296.2 IP, 143 K, 3.31 ERA, 146 adjERA).
Career stat highlight: 193 wins, .601 winning percentage.
Major honors and statistical crowns: two All-Star selections, wins once, complete games four times. Six 20+ win seasons.
Primary position: starting pitcher (right hand).
BBWAA Hall voting: 6 ballots, peaking at 3.63%.
2003 VC voting: 14.8%.
2005 VC voting: 11.3%.

Baseball bonus points: Ferrell holds the record for most career home runs by a pitcher, with 38 (yeah, Ruth had more, but only hit about 20 as a pitcher). Now, .280/.351/.446, 329 hits, 57 doubles, 38 dingers, 208 RBI, and 129 walks isn't going to get anyone into the Hall; but Ferrell provided more offense than just about any of his pitching peers, and it is worth noting that in his favor.

Ferrell was a good pitcher with some flashes of greatness, but never really dominated, tore through the league and made everyone sit down. He'd be among the best but never be the best. Ferrell won a lot with some rather weak teams, which isn't easy. His ERA and WHIP are both pretty high, though perhaps that's more reflective of the style of pitching of his times. Anyway, even adding in his batting skills, it's not enough.

Chipmaker's vote: no.

22. Jim Kaat
Playing career: 25 seasons; Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins (1959-73), Chicago White Sox (1973-75), Philadelphia Phillies (1976-79), New York Yankees (1979-80), St. Louis Cardinals (1980-83).
Standout season(s): 1966 (25-13, 304.2 IP, 205 K, 2.75 ERA, 131 adjERA).
Career stat highlight: 283 wins.
Major honors and statistical crowns: three All-Star selections, 1966 The Sporting News AL Pitcher Of The Year, 16 (!) Gold Gloves at pitcher (1962-77, 14 AL, 2 NL), wins once, complete games once, shutouts once. Three 20+ win seasons. Member of the 1982 World Series champion Cardinals, and three other postseason teams (actually a few more, but didn't play in October). If there had been separate Cy Young Awards for each league in 1966, he'd probably have won the AL award (Koufax got the single CYA). His 25 seasons played shared the record for longest career until Ryan surpassed it.
Primary position: starting pitcher for 20 years, then relief (left hand).
BBWAA Hall voting: 15 ballots, peaking at 29.55%.
2003 VC voting: not considered (was still on the BBWAA ballot).
2005 VC voting: 53.8% (fourth highest return).

A lot of people like Kitty for the Hall because of his big wins total – 283 is so agonizingly close to 300, and 300 wins gets in anyone. But, as I stated, I like to see great seasons, and Kaat didn't have many of those. A few, but not nearly enough. He played forever, and so contributed some value, but being average for a long time isn't the same as being very good for a long time. Kaat didn't demonstrate enough domination; that doesn't mean he wasn't a good pitcher. He just wasn't a Hall-class one. Yeah, the wallful of Gold Gloves is impressive, but it never was enough for the writers so I don't see why it might be now.

Chipmaker's vote: no.

23. Mickey Lolich
Playing career: 16 seasons; Detroit Tigers (1963-75), New York Mets (1976), San Diego Padres (1977-78).
Standout season(s): 1971 (25-14, 376 IP, 308 K, 2.92 ERA, 123 adjERA).
Career stat highlight: 41 shutouts, 2832 strikeouts.
Major honors and statistical crowns: three All-Star selections, wins once, strikeouts once, complete games once, shutouts once. Two 20+ win seasons. One 300+ strikeout season. Member of the 1968 World Series champion Tigers, famously going 3-0 with three complete games, and the 1972 AL East champion team as well.
Primary position: starting pitcher (left hand).
BBWAA Hall voting: 15 ballots, peaking at 25.53%.
2003 VC voting: 16.0%.
2005 VC voting: 11.3%.

Lolich had a couple of good seasons with sparkly numbers, but no truly great ones. Finished second once and third once in the AL Cy Young voting. Strikeouts are good, but keeping runs off the board is better. No sustained greatness, no plaque.

Chipmaker's vote: no.

24. Sparky Lyle
Playing career: 16 seasons; Boston Red Sox (1967-71), New York Yankees (1972-78), Texas Rangers (1979-80), Philadelphia Phillies (1980-82), Chicago White Sox (1982).
Standout season(s): 1974 (9-3, 15 saves, 114.0 IP, 89 K, 1.66 ERA, 210 adjERA), 1977 (13-5, 26 saves, 137.0 IP, 68 K, 2.17 ERA, 182 adjERA).
Career stat highlight: 238 saves, 899 games pitched.
Major honors and statistical crowns: 1977 AL Cy Young Award, three All-Star selections, saves twice. Member of the 1977-78 World Series champion Yankees (didn't pitch in the '78 WS), the 1976 AL champion, and the 1981 Phillies postseason team.
Primary position: relief pitcher (left hand) – never started a game.
BBWAA Hall voting: 4 ballots, peaking at 13.11%.
2003 VC voting: not considered.
2005 VC voting: 8.8%.

Lyle doesn't have the huge saves totals we see today, but relief pitching wasn't quite the same in the 70s as it is now. Regardless, Lyle was one of the best, with a few spectacular seasons, back when the relievers, even a closer (long before that term came into vogue), would be expected to pitch more than one inning. Lyle would probably look good on a plaque, but I'm not going to vote for him simply because there are better relief pitchers than he not yet in the Hall. When Gossage gets in, we can look at Sparky again.

Chipmaker's vote: no (but very open to future reconsideration).

25. Carl Mays
Playing career: 15 seasons; Boston Red Sox (1915-19), New York Yankees (1919-23), Cincinnati Reds (1924-28), New York Giants (1929).
Standout season(s): 1921 (27-9, 336.2 IP, 70 K, 3.05 ERA, 139 adjERA).
Career stat highlight: 207 wins, .622 winning percentage.
Major honors and statistical crowns: Wins once, winning percentage once, saves twice, complete games twice, shutouts twice. Five 20+ win seasons. Member of the 1916 and 1918 World Series champion Red Sox, and the 1921-22 NL champion Giants. Though the save was not an official statistic until decades later, in 1921 Mays led the NL in wins (27) and saves (7), which must be pretty rare. If there had been a Cy Young Award at the time, Mays would have won it. Played before the All-Star Game was initiated.
Primary position: starting pitcher, though he appeared in 165 games in relief as well (right hand).
BBWAA Hall voting: 1 ballot, peaking at 2.26%.
2003 VC voting: 19.8%.
2005 VC voting: 15.0%.

Baseball bonus points: could hit a little; Mays went .268/.313/.350 lifetime, with 291 hits, 32 doubles, 21 triples, five homers, and 66 walks in 1199 plate appearances. It's nice when the manager can count on a bit of offense from his pitcher.

Mays had a good career, couple of great seasons, but nothing compelling enough for me to vote for him. He also carries one of the heaviest pieces of baggage in baseball history – in 1920, Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman took a Mays pitch to his head, collapsed, and died the next day, the only on-field fatal incident in major league history. I've read about it some – balls were kept in use even when mucky and marked-up, making them harder to see than new, white balls; it was getting on toward sunset, the light failing; and this was long before batting helmets (even after Chapman's death, MLB didn't mandate phasing in helmets until the late 1950s). I don't blame Mays – it was just an accident, a stupid twist of fate that had the worst possible outcome. But Chapman's fate has become inextricable from Mays' playing record. I don't think his career was Hall-class anyway, but add in the Chapman incident and I can see how voters would be even more down on him.

Chipmaker's vote: no.

26. Don Newcombe
Playing career: 10 seasons; Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1949-51, '54-58), Cincinnati Reds (1958-60), Cleveland Indians (1960). Also played for the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues in 1944-45, and served two years (1952-53) in the military.
Standout season(s): 1956 (27-7, 268.0 IP, 139 K, 5 shutouts, 3.06 ERA, 130 adjERA).
Career stat highlight: 149 wins, .623 winning percentage.
Major honors and statistical crowns: 1956 NL MVP, 1956 Major League Cy Young Award (the first given, and before it was split between leagues), 1949 NL ROY, four All-Star selections, wins once, winning percentage twice, strikeouts once, shutouts once. Three 20+ win seasons. Member of the 1955 World Series champion Dodgers and two other NL champion Dodger teams, and had it not been for the army he'd probably have been on the 1952-53 pennant winners as well, helping greatly, and maybe even bringing home another trophy -- ah, well.
Primary position: starting pitcher (right hand).
BBWAA Hall voting: 15 ballots, peaking at 15.32% (on his final ballot).
2003 VC voting: 13.6%.
2005 VC voting: 10.0%.

Baseball bonus points: a pretty good hitter as pitchers go. Batted .271/.338/.367, 238 hits, 33 doubles, 15 homers, 108 RBI, 87 walks in 988 plate appearances. Hit seven homers and posted a 165 adjOPS in 1955.

It's probably without dispute that Newcombe was the first superstar black pitcher in the majors. He had good success on a great team, the 1950s Dodgers, "Dem Bums". But he only had a short burst of greatness – the military service robbed us of seeing much more, similar to Willie Mays or Ted Williams, but whereas those two men played on, Newcombe faded quickly after age 30, in part due to an arm injury (Newcombe himself also blames his battles with alcohol). Even if he had back the two years, he probably wouldn't really have Hall-class testimony, and we can't give them back, unfortunately. Never won a game in the World Series, which I won't hold against him, but I know he took that hard. Great team; good pitcher. Newcombe would look good on a plaque but the Hall is not suffering for his absence.

Chipmaker's vote: no.

27. Luis Tiant
Playing career: 19 seasons; Cleveland Indians (1964-69), Minnesota Twins (1970), Boston Red Sox (1971-78), New York Yankees (1979-80), Pittsburgh Pirates (1981), California Angels (1982).
Standout season(s): 1968 (21-9, 258.1 IP, 264 K, 1.60 ERA, 184 adjERA).
Career stat highlight: 229 wins.
Major honors and statistical crowns: three All-Star selections, two AL ERA titles, shutouts three times. Four 20+ win seasons. Member of the 1975 AL champion Red Sox and the 1970 AL West champion Twins teams.
Primary position: starting pitcher (right hand).
BBWAA Hall voting: 15 ballots, peaking at 30.91% (on his first ballot).
2003 VC voting: not considered (had just come off the BBWAA ballot in 2002).
2005 VC voting: 25.0%.

Baseball bonus points: El Tiante was no hitter, but did put together an amazing performance during his one season in Minnesota – batted .406/.424/.531, 13 hits in 32 at-bats, 4 doubles, 4 RBI, and one walk, for a 162 adjOPS. It was a fluke, but an impressive one.

There are all sorts of stories about Tiant. He would smoke cigars in the shower. He had dozens of windups and dozens of pitches, meaning his possible combinations of both were countless and the batter never knew what was coming. He sure was fun to watch on the mound (I saw him throw one inning in an exhibition game in 1995 or so, pretty much tossing meatballs, but he still had the hip-swivel, wobble, wiggle, and burst toward the plate as he'd always had. Oh, it was fun to call out "LOOOOOOOOOIIEEEEEE!" one more time.) When he was on his game he was unstoppable, but that was pretty rare. Tiant had two genuinely great seasons (even in 1968, when any farmboy on the mound was looking like the reincarnation of Grove, he stood out), a couple of above-average ones, and a bunch of average ones. That's not Hall class. I love the guy, I'll always be proud of his 1975 season, but no plaque for you, Luis.

Chipmaker's vote: no (even though it makes me a little sad to vote so).

And that's it, the 2007 Hall Of Fame Veterans Committee ballot candidates, players and non-players. As I stated in the introduction, there's just not that many historical injustices in need of redress, so a lot of these ballots are filler – worthy players who earned their honoraria, but few true greats who have been grievously overlooked. The current VC process, the third cycle of which ends tomorrow with the voting announcement, almost seems hamstrung by its mandates and minimums – there has to be at least 25 players, and 15 non-players, when the ballots come around every two or four years. And there just isn't that many people in need of reconsideration. (The non-player ballot, at least, needs some sort of churning mechanism, because there is no way the entire 2003 ballot should have been repeated in 2007. For 2011, I'm certain we'll see Buck O'Neill on the ballot, after the 2006 Special Committee dropped the ball on his candidacy; but there should be a few other new names among the 15. It simply would make for a more interesting process, and show that the Hall is taking it seriously.)

The Hall is for honoring baseball greatness, the best of all times on the field, the biggest contributors off the field, the men who excelled at the game or were transformative to it in some positive way. The results are announced tomorrow, February 27, at 14:00 Eastern. Let's hope someone gets in this time, if just to prove that the process works. Another shutout would be, well, less than interesting.

Chipmaker's final player ballot: Allen, Boyer, Gordon, Minoso, Santo.

If I could vote for only one: Ron Santo.

Prediction of the actual VC player ballot results, on which I'd be willing to wager a quarter per name: Santo and Hodges get elected.