1950

Three long time candidates dropped from the rolls: Carl Mays used up his eligibility and Jim Bottomley and Herb Pennock lost their following. This election ends Sunday.

1 Johnny Allen
6 Earl Averill 6th
15 Dave Bancroft 8th
7 John Beckwith 4th
4 Wally Berger
10 Earle Combs
1 Johnny Cooney
4 Andy Cooper
7 Kiki Cuyler
4 Dizzy Dean 3rd
1 Frank Demaree
15 Bingo DeMoss
12 Red Faber 10th
4 Wes Ferrell 5th
2 Lefty Gomez
1 Ival Goodman
11 Burleigh Grimes
8 Chick Hafey
1 Willis Hudlin
8 Judy Johnson 8th
1 Chuck Klein
6 Tony Lazzeri
6 Dick Lundy 7th
6 Heinie Manush
10 Rabbit Maranville
9 Firpo Marberry
1 Pepper Martin
4 Buddy Myer
5 Dick Redding
10 Sam Rice
13 Eddie Rommel
14 Edd Roush
1 Al Simmons
1 Mule Suttles
5 Ben Taylor
8 Pie Traynor
1 Joe Vosmik
11 Hack Wilson

Bob’s ballot:

1. Suttles
2. Simmons
3. Beckwith
4. Dean
5. Klein
6. Averill
7. Ferrell
8. Gomez
9. Berger
10. Cooper

Terry’s ballot:

1: Al Simmons– From 1925 to 1931 he hit .372-.415-.622; an adjusted ops+ of 159. He had an adjusted ops+ of 151 between 1925 and 1934. It’s hard to find the perfect comp, but I kind of think Vladdie Guerrero fits as well as anyone, as a hitter anyway. They both hit for good averages until they got older, didn’t walk a lot, and hit some homers but not as many as the real sluggers of their day. Neither of them aged well, but they were both a lot more fun to watch than anyone realized until they were gone.
2: Dizzy Dean
3: John Beckwith
4: Rabbit Maranville
5: Wes Ferrell
6: Dave Bancroft
7: Edd Roush
8: Pie Traynor
9: Pepper Martin– If the criterion was “don’t take your eyes off that bastard for a second, you’ll miss something”, Martin would rank in the top twenty players of all time. His career .418 World Series batting average, his role in the 1931 World Series and with the Gas House Gang, and the rest of his never boring for more than a couple of minutes career that didn’t slow down even when he went to the minor leagues….. While he wasn’t nearly as substantial a player as many who will never get a vote, his memory is well worth preserving. I won’t advocate his selection for the GOR, but I won’t boo if he slipped in, either. Why didn’t Frankie get him ahead of George Kelley?
10: Kiki Cuyler

Wally Berger
Chuck Klein– I did a couple of organized (for me, anyway) studies with my “Total Baseball” boat anchor several years ago, dealing with his home/road splits. The splits are freely available now, at BBR, so I won’t waste time recapping what I found. Klein was a good player, but no better than the morass of guys like Hafey, Berger, Averill, Wilson and the rest of the Frankie Frisch all stars. His triple crown and the other black ink make him more “honorable”, maybe, but no better. Kiki Cuyler was a better player.

Mule Suttles– He was a huge man for his period, well over 6 feet tall and well over 200 pounds. He is generally seen as a left fielder, but I would guess that he played more first base than left field after he got older, and put on a few pounds. As a player I would put him in the group with Klein, Averill, Wilson, Berger, guys like that. His career pattern was similar, a brilliant peak that faded by the time he was 30 years old. Since he was a Negro League player we’ll probably induct him without a fight, and I’m fine with that. If you want to tell me he was better than those guys, I’ll fight you to the death and then kill your family.

I’m kidding, I’ll probably just spit in your fish tank.

Johnny Allen– Sort of a right handed Don Gullet, he started his career at the same age Gullet ended his. Their combined record: 251-115.

Frank Demaree– SABR has a really nice bio of Demaree available online, and I culled some stuff from it:

His parents were deaf mutes, 48 and 41 years old when he was born. They raised him on an apricot farm in Sacramento, California. Like most of these guys who grew up in California, he played semi-pro ball until the PCL was ready for him. He hit a homerun and pulled two back in the park for the Cubs in the 1932 World Series, and played regularly or the Cubs in 1933 before being farmed out for his historic 1934 season. He was one of 20 major league players to score on a triple play; has anyone ever seen this? I don’t remember seeing it happen. His 45 homer 1934 in the PCL was a huge outlier. He hit just 32 more homeruns in the minors in over 2000 atbats, and he never hit more than 41 homeruns in any three consecutive major league seasons. His career total was 72 in over 4000 atbats, less than 10 per 500.

Willis Hudlin– They don’t get much more generic than this guy. It surprised me that he’d won 158 major league games, since I’d never heard of him before I looked him up. I think he deserves some respect as more than just a gold watch guy, or maybe more accurately as one of the goldest of the gold watch guys. He pitched in Cleveland’s rotation for nearly fifteen years, then spent several years pitching for and managing his hometown Little Rock team. He died in Little Rock in August of 2002, at 96 years old. I imagine he was present at all the big functions, charity balls and such, and maybe made his share of local commercials in Little Rock. I’ve never been to Little Rock, though. Does anyone have personal information about Little Rock, or about Willis Hudlin? I’m curious now.

Joe Vosmik– Known for his movie star looks, he wasn’t a particularly great player once you let the air out of his League Park numbers but he had an interesting story. His SABR bio is well worth reading.

Results:

13 ballots; the results:

156 Al Simmons
110 Mule Suttles
**************
80 Dizzy Dean
52 John Beckwith
50 Earl Averill
49 Wes Ferrell
32 Sam Rice
30 Judy Johnson
30 Dick Lundy
21 Chuck Klein
21 Rabbit Maranville
19 Edd Roush
18 Red Faber
17 Pie Traynor
15 Goofy Gomez
13 Dave Bancroft
13 Kiki Cuyler
12 Wally Berger
10 Heinie Manush
8 Bingo DeMoss
8 Hack Wilson
7 Buddy Myer
6 Tony Lazzeri
5 Ben Taylor
4 Burleigh Grimes
3 Dick Redding
2 Pepper Martin
1 Andy Cooper
1 Eddie Rommel