1906

I’m expecting as close an election this year as last year’s. This poll will close Friday night.

1 Bob Allen
8 Charlie Bennett 4th
7 Pete Browning 7th
9 Fred Carroll
8 Bob Caruthers
1 Jack Clements
7 Jerry Denny
5 Dave Foutz
9 Pud Galvin
3 Mike Griffin
3 Bill Joyce
1 Frank Killen
2 Bill Lange
2 Arlie Latham
4 Denny Lyons
14 Bobby Mathews 8th
2 Ed McKean
2 Bid McPhee 3rd
1 Jouett Meekin
7 Tony Mullane
3 Billy Nash
9 Tip O’Neill
4 Fred Pfeffer
9 Hardy Richardson 10th
2 Jack Stivetts
13 Ezra Sutton
1 Patsy Tebeau
2 Mike Tiernan
2 Tommy Tucker
9 Mickey Welch 9th
11 Ned Williamson 5th

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Bob’s ballot:

I wish I could say this was getting easier. It’s not. I had 17 men I wanted to put in my Top 10.

1. Mathews
2. Browning
3. Galvin
4. Bennett
5. McPhee
6. Mullane
7. Williamson
8. Welch
9. Richardson
10. Stivetts

And I seriously considered Caruthers, Clements, Griffin, Joyce, Lange, McKean and Tiernan.

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Terry’s ballot:

1. Bobby Mathews- I moved him up for this year as a show of respect for an old timer who got lost in the shuffle, but when I took another look I noticed something: a strong argument can be made that he should have been ranked over this group in the first place. Bob’s made the arguments so I won’t regurgitate all of that, but his case looks legitimately better to me than the other pitchers on the ballot.
2. Charlie Bennett
3. Pete Browning
4. Bid McPhee
5. Bob Caruthers- Short peak and he played for a dominant team, but he was one hell of a ballplayer and one of the main reasons his team was so dominant. I kept comparing him to the others, and I kept moving him up.
6. Hardy Richardson
7. Mike Tiernan
8. Tony Mullane– I moved him down some, below Caruthers. I am not as high on him as I was earlier. His career was really chopped up.
9. Mickey Welch– Somewhere between Drysdale and Pappas, and probably closer to Pappas.
10. Pud Galvin– He never led the league in wins, only finished second once. Only as high as fourth in era once other than his rookie year (62 innings) – in leagues of 8 teams with generally one main pitcher for his peak period. Career era+ was only 107, career winning pct .541. Had just 19 points of black ink despite putting up huge counting numbers in small, decentralized leagues and for some pretty good teams in several of his peak years. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a Hall of Famer to me. That sounds like Jamie Moyer. Honestly I think Moyer’s career has been more substantial. I love his BBR picture, though, and I almost want to induct him for the picture alone. He looked like one of the little rascals. Plus it seems criminal to deny entry to a guy named Pud. Didn’t he suffer enough?

Honorable Mention (who might need it)
Jack Stivetts
Jack Clements

I figure both of them were good enough that we need a year or two to figure out if they are legit contenders or not.

Need convincing
Tip O’Neill
Ned Williamson

Both brilliant players, but both had very short periods of effectiveness.

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Results:

The results from seven ballots:

57 Charlie Bennett
55 Bid McPhee
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42 Pete Browning
42 Bobby Mathews
37 Ned Williamson
34 Pud Galvin
25 Micley Welch
21 Hardy Richardson
20 Mike Tiernan
17 Bob Caruthers
16 Tip O’Neill
12 Tony Mullane
11 Dave Foutz
7 Fred Carroll
6 Bill Joyce
5 Denny Lyons
5 Billy Nash
4 Jack Clements
4 Ed McKean
3 Arlie Latham
2 Mike Griffin
1 Jerry Denny
1 Jack Stivetts