After a record 55 ballots cast – more than doubling the 25 ballots cast in 2016 – The Gallery of Renown welcomes Craig Biggio and Ivan Rodriguez to Bob’s Corner. In the first year after Bob’s passing, Dan Marks brought the vote to the articles section of Bill James Online. The increased exposure led to the dramatic increase in ballots, and (I hope) some cross-over between the separate sections on Bill’s website.
Nobody managed to make every ballot. Four players were named on at least 75 percent of the ballots (Biggio, Pudge, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz) and 32 players received at least one vote. Ten players earned a 1st place vote; strangely, all ten earned at least two. Gary Sheffield and Rafael Palmiero each earned a pair of 1st place votes, but no 2nd or 3rd place votes.
Six players received a single vote, among them a pair of 2nd place votes (Tim Wakefield and Matt Stairs) and a 3rd place vote (Orlando Cabrera). Garrett Anderson, Pat Burrell, J.D. Drew, Julio Franco, Derek Lee, Melvin Mora, Magglio Ordonez, Edgar Renteria, Jose Rijo, Jason Varitek and Javier Vazquez failed to receive a vote and will drop from the 2018 ballot. Lee Smith also drops from the ballot, having exhausted his eligibility.
The current glut should begin to work its way down in the next few years. There are only three locks in the next four elections plus Jim Thome, who may or may not be a lock. My guess is Glavine and Smoltz, plus two from of the Manny, Vladdie, Mussina, Schilling group get in by 2021.
Enjoy the site, and we will do this again next holiday season.
| Player | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | # of Votes | % of Ballots | Points |
| Craig Biggio | 14 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 53 | 96% | 488 | ||
| Ivan Rodriguez | 15 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 51 | 93% | 464 | |
| Tom Glavine | 6 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 50 | 91% | 397 |
| John Smoltz | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 48 | 87% | 296 | ||
| Manny Ramirez | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 38 | 69% | 292 |
| Mike Mussina | 2 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 49 | 89% | 281 |
| Vlad Guerrero | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 43 | 78% | 254 |
| Curt Schilling | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 37 | 67% | 232 |
| Gary Sheffield | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 23 | 42% | 101 | ||
| Larry Walker | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 22 | 40% | 96 | ||
| Rafael Palmeiro | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 25% | 56 | |||
| Kenny Lofton | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 33% | 55 | |||
| Sammy Sosa | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 24% | 47 | |||
| Jim Edmonds | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 24% | 46 | |||
| Trevor Hoffman | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 20% | 33 | ||||
| Bernie Williams | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 13% | 28 | ||||
| Jorge Posada | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 20% | 26 | ||||||
| Jeff Kent | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 18% | 22 | |||||||
| David Cone | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 13% | 18 | |||||||
| Billy Wagner | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 9% | 18 | ||||||
| Carlos Delgado | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7% | 15 | ||||||
| Lee Smith | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4% | 14 | ||||||||
| Kevin Brown | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7% | 14 | ||||||
| John Olerud | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9% | 12 | |||||||
| Matt Stairs | 1 | 1 | 2% | 11 | |||||||||
| Tim Wakefield | 1 | 1 | 2% | 11 | |||||||||
| Dave Stieb | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7% | 8 | |||||||
| Orlando Cabrera | 1 | 1 | 2% | 8 | |||||||||
| Matt Williams | 1 | 1 | 2% | 4 | |||||||||
| Mike Cameron | 1 | 1 | 2% | 4 | |||||||||
| Willie McGee | 2 | 2 | 4% | 2 | |||||||||
| Tony Phillips | 1 | 1 | 2% | 2 |
The 2017 introduction and ballot:
Welcome to – or back to – Bob Gregory’s Gallery of Renown. Invented by our late, great friend Bob Gregory (Rgreg1956) back in 2011, the premise is simple: “what if” the baseball Hall of Fame had begun 50 years sooner than it actually did? What if the first Hall of Fame ballot was sent out in 1885?
I’ll let Bob explain the premise himself. This is his original post:
This is the basic premise of the GOR (Gallery of Renown): Chadwick and a group of baseball powers decided to open a GOR in 1885, electing one player per year. But instead of a yes/no, in/out type of ballot like the real Hall Of Fame uses, instead, a ballot very much like the MVP vote is used. Each year, starting in 1885, voters submitted their ballots, ranking their ten most deserving of enshrinement in order. The leading vote-getter is elected.
Some specifics —
- Bob did away with the 75 percent voting threshold for election in favor of quotas. From 1885 (the first election) through 1899 there would be one player elected each year. From 1900 forward there would be two players elected each year. Separate elections would be held for managers and for contributors every ten years: manager elections were held in years ending with zero, contributor elections held in years ending with a five.
- Elections were modeled after the annual BBWAA (Baseball Writers’ Association of America) MVP award votes. Each ballot would consist of ten names, listed in order of preference. The points for each position on the ballot were awarded on a 14-11-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale. The only exceptions were the early manager and contributor ballots, which elected just one and included four names.
As most of you know, Bob Gregory passed away on September 13, 2016. I promised to continue the GOR as his proxy for as long as I can keep my happy butt above the dirt. We’ll continue to hold annual GOR elections to roughly coincide with the one in upstate New York that Buster Olney is always whining about.
A few notes:
- The list is in alphabetical order
- The number to the left of the player reflects the number of years he’s been on the ballot, including this year.
- The number to the right of some players is their finish in the previous year’s GOR vote. For example, Craig Biggio finished 3rd in the 2016 vote.
- To be clear – just in case – vote for ten players, and put them in order like it’s an MVP ballot.
- The scoring is 14 for a 1st place vote, 11 for 2nd, then 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
- Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas were last year’s inductees.
- Lee Smith is in his final year of eligibility.
- There are 14 newcomers.
- Two players – Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Kendall – dropped off the ballot.
2 Garret Anderson
5 Craig Biggio 3rd
7 Kevin Brown
1 Pat Burrell
1 Orlando Cabrera
1 Mike Cameron
9 David Cone
3 Carlos Delgado
1 J.D. Drew
2 Jim Edmonds 9th
5 Julio Franco
4 Tom Glavine 4th
1 Vladimir Guerrero
2 Trevor Hoffman
4 Jeff Kent
1 Derrek Lee
5 Kenny Lofton
13 Willie McGee
1 Melvin Mora
4 Mike Mussina 6th
7 John Olerud
1 Magglio Ordonez
6 Rafael Palmeiro
13 Tony Phillips
1 Jorge Posada
1 Manny Ramirez
1 Edgar Renteria
10 Jose Rijo
1 Ivan Rodriguez
5 Curt Schilling 7th
3 Gary Sheffield 9th
15 Lee Smith
3 John Smoltz 5th
5 Sammy Sosa
1 Matt Stairs
14 Dave Stieb
1 Jason Varitek
2 Billy Wagner
7 Larry Walker 8th
6 Bernie Williams 10th
9 Matt Williams
Tim Wakefield
Javier Vazquez
Dontrelle Willis
Rich Harden
Bob Gregory's Gallery of Renown 