1898

Once again, a huge influx of new names. The cause this time? The mound change from 55′ to 60’6″. And a large number of viable HOF/GOR candidates to boot. Once again, I’ll give a little extra time, as there are 42 names on this ballot. Is four days enough? Poll will close Saturday night.

1 Charlie Buffington
2 Jack Burdock
1 Tom Burns
1 Hick Carpenter
1 Fred Carroll
1 Hub Collins
6 Larry Corcoran
1 Pop Corkhill
14 Candy Cummings
2 Abner Dalrymple
2 Fred Dunlap 7th
9 Bob Ferguson
1 Pud Galvin
1 George Gore
1 Ned Hanlon
3 Guy Hecker
2 Paul Hines 2nd
5 Charley Jones 4th
1 Bill Kuehne
14 Joe Leggett
6 Bobby Mathews 5th
1 Jim McTamany
9 Levi Meyerle 9th
3 John Morrill
1 Darby O’Brien
1 Tip O’Neill
3 Dave Orr 10th
12 Lip Pike 8th
1 Hardy Richardson
2 John Reilly
1 Yank Robinson
1 Emmett Seery
2 Pop Smith
2 Pop Snyder
5 Ezra Sutton 5th
1 Mickey Welch
7 Will White
3 Jim Whitney
3 Ned Williamson 3rd
1 Chicken Wolf
1 George Wood
7 Tom York

Another of the Amateur Era guys fell by the wayside. Only Cummings and Leggett remain from the original 1885 ballot. Wes Fisler, you will be missed.

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Bob’s ballot:

My ballot is taking a hit. Some of my favorites are dropping off like flies now. Jimmy Wood is gone; Wes Fisler is gone; and now Bob Ferguson and JOE LEGGETT are gone. Some other favorites are barely sneaking onto my list.

1. Hines
2. Galvin
3. Mathews
4. Gore
5. Richardson
6. Welch
7. Williamson
8. Sutton
9. Jones
10. Dalrymple

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Terry’s ballot:

1. Paul Hines– Carl Yastrzemski/Al Kaline type career; he should be in the real Hall of Fame, shouldn’t he?
2. Charley Jones– Underrated, if you ask me. His career ops+ was 150, and it was 162 between 1876-1885.
3. Bobby Mathews- In context I like him a bit more than Welch or Galvin, but their career numbers make his case look harder.
4. Lip Pike– Already a star for several years pre-NA, some call him the first professional player.
5. George Gore– 45.9 WAR, solid D level guy to me and I might be underrating him.
6. Hardy Richardson– Almost as good as Gore, 40 WAR; somewhere between Frank Malzone and Lou Whitaker as a player, but he looked eerily like Wade Boggs.
7. Mickey Welch- Six year stretch from 1884-1889 where he went 191-100 with an ERA+ of 127. The rest of his career he was league average by era+, going 120-110. Certainly could rank higher, but there were a lot of pitchers dominating in that period, when they started throwing overhand legally. Welch was good, but his career black ink was 3. Yes, 3. That’s not a typo.
8. Pud Galvin– Bob, would Galvin have made it over 400 wins? He was brilliant in 1875 but didn’t resurface in the majors again until 1879. Honestly he wasn’t as good as Welch (10 points of era+ between them career), he just lasted longer and came up early enough to accumulate 359 decisions between 1879 and 1884, before everyone started throwing overhand. Mickey Lolich seems like the best comp to me, and he even sort of looks like him.
9. Tip O’Neill- Tommy Davis/Tony Oliva sort of career, won the triple crown in 1887 and backed it up with another batting title. Career was shorter than theirs, even adjusting for context.
10. Fred Dunlap– Poor man’s Frankie Frisch, maybe? Who would that be? Billy Herman? No, gots to go lower. Dave Cash? Manny Trillo? That’s too low. How about Granny Hamner?

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Results:

Results from 8 voters:

106 Paul Hines
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61 Pud Galvin
58 George Gore
48 Hardy Richardson
36 Ned Williamson
35 Mickey Welch
24 Charley Jones
22 Tip O’Neill
18 Bobby Mathews
18 Ezra Sutton
15 Fred Dunlap
15 Lip Pike
7 Fred Carroll
4 Dave Orr
2 Levi Meyerle
2 Pop Snyder
1 Abner Dalrymple