This post is for voting and discussion in the fifteenth round of balloting for the Circle of Greats. This round begins to add those players born in 1955. Rules and lists are after the jump.

As we did with players born in 1958, players born in 1955 will be brought on to the COG eligible list over two rounds — the top half of the alphabet this round and the bottom half of the alphabet next round. The idea is to assure that we achieve our quota of inductees, matching the number of players that the baseball writers have inducted into the Hall of Fame (currently 112), while also roughly matching the end points of the historical era from which the writers have largely chosen their inductees. As usual, the new group joins the holdovers from previous rounds to comprise the full group eligible to receive your votes this round. And, as usual, the new group of 1955-born players, in order to join the eligible list, must have played at least 10 seasons in the major leagues or generated at least 20 Wins Above Replacement (“WAR”, as calculated by baseball-reference.com, and for this purpose meaning 20 total WAR for everyday players and 20 pitching WAR for pitchers).

As always, each submitted ballot, if it is to be counted, 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 added future rounds of ballot eligibility. Players who appear on 25% or more of the ballots cast, but less than 50%, earn two added future rounds of ballot eligibility. Any other player in the top 9 (including ties) in ballot appearances, or who appears on at least 10% of the ballots, wins one additional round of ballot eligibility.

All voting for this round closes at 11:00 PM EDT on Friday, April 19, while changes to previously cast ballots are allowed until 11:00 PM EDT Wednesday, April 17.

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: 1955 Part 1 COG Vote Tally . I’ll be updating the spreadsheet periodically with the latest votes. Initially, there is a row in the spreadsheet 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 new born-in-1955 group will be added to the spreadsheet as votes are cast for them.

Choose your three players from the lists below of eligible players. The 11 current 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. The new group of 1955 birth-year guys are listed below in order of the number of seasons each played in the majors, and alphabetically among players with the same number of seasons played. In total there were 32 players born in 1955 who met the “10 seasons played or 20 WAR” minimum requirement. 16 of those are being added to the eligible list this round (alphabetically from Floyd Bannister through Lee Mazzilli); the 16 players further down in the alphabet wil be added next round.

Holdovers:
Tom Glavine (eligibility guaranteed for 8 rounds)
Tony Gwynn (eligibility guaranteed for 8 rounds)
John Smoltz (eligibility guaranteed for 6 rounds)
Craig Biggio (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Alan Trammell  (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Lou Whitaker (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Roberto Alomar (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Paul Molitor  (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Eddie Murray (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Ryne Sandberg (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Tim Raines (eligibility not guaranteed beyond this round)

Everyday Players (born in 1955, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Jack Clark
Chet Lemon
Mike Heath
Jeffrey Leonard
Lee Mazzilli
Bruce Benedict
Mickey Hatcher
Ruppert Jones

Pitchers (born in 1955, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Danny Darwin
Floyd Bannister
Jim Clancy
Greg Harris
Jay Howell
Ron Davis
Len Barker
Ernie Camacho