This post is for voting and discussion in the eleventh round of balloting for the Circle of Greats. This round, and the next round, add players born in 1958. Rules and lists are after the jump.
41 players were born in 1958 and played in at least ten seasons of major league baseball. 20 of those (players with last names beginning A through H) will be added as eligible this round. The other 21 players in the born-in-1958 group will be added next round. I expect such two-part birth year introductions to be held every three birth-years or so. The other, intervening birth years will be handled the same as the ones we’ve done up till now — bringing in all the 10-year guys within that birth year at once. Such a blended approach should get us to 112 inductees before we get too far back into the ancient history of the major leagues. We’ll do a separate wing of the Circle of Greats for those guys from really way back in history.
As always, each ballot cast must include three and only three eligible players. The one player who appears on the most ballots cast in the round is inducted into the Circle of Greats. Players who fail to win induction but appear on half or more of the ballots that are cast win four future rounds of ballot eligibility. Players who appear on 25% or more of the ballots, but less than 50%, earn two years of extended eligibility. Any other player in the top 9 (including ties) in ballot appearances (or who appear on at least 10% of the ballots) wins one additional round of ballot eligibility.
All voting for this round closes at 11:00 PM EST on Sunday, March 3, while changes to previously cast ballots are allowed until 11:00 PM EST Friday, March 1.
If you’d like to follow the vote tally, and/or check to make sure I’ve recorded your vote correctly, you can see my ballot-counting spreadsheet for this round here: 1958-Pt 1 COG Vote Tally . I’ll be updating the spreadsheet periodically with the latest votes. Initially, there is a row for every voter who has cast a ballot in any of the past rounds, but new voters are entirely welcome — new voters will be added to the spreadsheet as their ballots are submitted. Also initially, there is a column for each of the holdover players; additional player columns from the born-in-1958 group will be added as votes are cast for them.
Choose your three players from the lists below of eligible players. The holdovers are listed in order of the number of future rounds (including this one) through which they are assured eligibility, and alphabetically when the future eligibility number is the same. We welcome back Kenny Lofton and Kevin Brown to the list of holdovers, based on their being the top two vote-getters in the redemption round voting this past week. The 1958 birth year guys are listed below in order of the number of seasons they played in the majors, and alphabetically among players with the same number of seasons played.
Holdovers:
John Smoltz (eligibility guaranteed for 7 rounds)
Tom Glavine (eligibility guaranteed for 6 rounds)
Craig Biggio (eligibility guaranteed for 5 rounds)
Tony Gwynn (eligibility guaranteed for 5 rounds)
Barry Larkin (eligibility guaranteed for 5 rounds)
Larry Walker (eligibility guaranteed for 4 rounds)
Roberto Alomar (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Tim Raines (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Ryne Sandberg (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Kevin Brown (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Kenny Lofton(eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Edgar Martinez (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Everyday Players (born in 1958, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues, last name starts with letters A through H):
Rickey Henderson
Julio Franco
Gary Gaetti
Wade Boggs
Scott Fletcher
Dave Henderson
Randy Bush
Bill Doran
Von Hayes
Marty Barrett
Carmelo Castillo
Pitchers (born in 1958, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues, last name starts with letters A through H):
Orel Hershiser
Bruce Hurst
Juan Agosto
Atlee Hammaker
Steve Howe
Neil Allen
Lee Guetterman
Jim Acker
Steve Crawford