Congratulations to Joe Gordon, a worthy electee.
Pre-1943 ballot (9 of 12, 75%, needed for election)
rank candidate......votes..percentage
1. Joe Gordon* ...... 10 83.3% -- ELECTED
2. Allie Reynolds .... 8 66.7%
3. Wes Ferrell ....... 6 50.0%
4t. Mickey Vernon .... 5 41.7%
4t. Deacon White* .... 5 41.7%
6. Bucky Walters ..... 4 33.3%
7. Sherry Magee* ..... 3 25.0%
8t. Bill Dahlen ..... <3 ≤16.7%
8t. Carl Mays ....... <3 ≤16.7%
8t. Vern Stephens* .. <3 ≤16.7%
* Candidates for whom I would have voted.
Post-1942 ballot (48 of 64, 75%, needed for election)
rank candidate....votes..percentage
2. Jim Kaat ....... 38 59.4%
3. Tony Oliva ..... 33 51.6%
4. Gil Hodges ..... 28 43.8%
5. Joe Torre ...... 19 29.7%
6. Maury Wills .... 15 23.4%
7. Luis Tiant ..... 13 20.3%
8. Vada Pinson .... 12 18.8%
9. Al Oliver ....... 9 14.1%
10. Dick Allen* .... 7 10.9%
* Candidates for whom I would have voted.
Post-mortem.
I don't have a lot of argument with the pre-1943, olde-tymers ballot result. I strongly supported Gordon and am delighted to see him elected. I was in favor of White, Magee, and Stephens, but them missing out is no disappointment. (Though I really wonder what the deal with Stephens is. Apparently he was never on the BBWAA ballot, and this is the first time he's been placed on a VC ballot. And he got totally dismissed, finishing in the Hall's ambiguous "less than a quarter" category, which I suppose is used to prevent the embarrassment of a complete zero. He was a good player, but to get this badly trounced? Is this still lingering resentment for briefly jumping to the Mexican League? I do not get it.)
I am surprised Reynolds almost got elected, as he really wasn't good enough to be on the ballot. This is probably a practical example of the Yankees Effect, the notion that the pinstriped uniform confers greatness simply by being buttoned up. I disagree with that premise. But, he did not get elected, so let's move on.
Popular opinion on the Web is that Dahlen was the best candidate on the ballot. I don't see it, though I'm willing to be convinced. The electorate, however, clearly didn't believe it.
One thing that the Hall should consider is implementing some relegation mechanism, some method for keeping candidates with sufficiently low ballot returns from getting back into consideration for at least one cycle. Perhaps the guys in the "less than 3 votes" ghetto could be treated thusly, removing them from consideration for a while and opening slots for other potential candidates. There's just no point in recycling ballot deadwood too often.
Joe Gordon has been elected. I consider this a happy outcome. It proves that the system, although flawed, does work. So that's a good thing.
Moving on to the post-1942 ballot....
No one was elected, and while I agree with most of this, I am sorely disappointed (and am nowhere near alone) that Ron Santo did not make the cut. I'll have more to write about Santo and this particular electorate in a separate post.
As for the other nine candidates, I only supported Allen, who finished dead last -- and this didn't surprise me. He was never popular, and carries an enduring reputation as having been a serious troublemaker. That sort of aura is extemely difficult to disspell no matter how unworthy and unfair it may be.
The others, well, this is not exactly the same electorate which considered all of them (yes, all ten candidates were also on the 2007 VC ballot) just two years ago, but it is largely similar, and everyone did worse. Again, this is mostly a topic for a follow-on post, but here are the vote totals for each.
2007 VC election == 82 ballots
2009 VC election == 64 ballots
player, 2007 votes, 2009 votes, delta
Santo, 57, 39, -18
Kaat, 52, 38, -14
Oliva, 47, 33, -14
Hodges, 50, 28, -22
Torre, 26, 19, -7
Wills, 33, 15, -18
Tiant, 15, 13, -2
Pinson, 16, 12, -4
Oliver, 14, 9, -5
Allen, 11, 7, -4
Whoof. The electorate shrank from 84 (only 82 ballots were received in the 2007 player election) to 64. Santo lost 18 votes in a net reduction of 20 -- and Hodges lost 22! Again, I have more to say, but later.
And that's it. One new Hall honoree, and I consider Gordon most worthy.
The writers' ballot results will be announced on 12-January-2009.
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