This post is for voting and discussion in the sixteenth round of balloting for the Circle of Greats. This round adds those players born in 1955 who were not added in the previous round. Rules and lists are after the jump.
As usual, the group of players newly eligible this round joins the holdovers from previous rounds of balloting to comprise the full list of players 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 career Wins Above Replacement (“WAR”, as calculated by baseball-reference.com, 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 Saturday, April 27, while changes to previously cast ballots are allowed until 11:00 PM EDT Thursday, April 25.
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 2 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 newly eligible 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 10 current holdovers are listed in order of the number of future rounds (including this one) through which they are assured eligibility, and in alphabetical order when the future eligibility number is a tie. The new group of 1955 birth-year guys are listed below in order of the number of seasons each played in the majors, and in alphabetical among players for whom the number of seasons played is a tie. 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 Jack Morris through Robin Yount); the 16 players earlier in the alphabet were eligible in the previous round.
Holdovers:
Tony Gwynn (eligibility guaranteed for 9 rounds)
John Smoltz (eligibility guaranteed for 6 rounds)
Alan Trammell (eligibility guaranteed for 4 rounds)
Lou Whitaker (eligibility guaranteed for 4 rounds)
Craig Biggio (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Paul Molitor (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Eddie Murray (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Roberto Alomar (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Tim Raines (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Ryne Sandberg (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Everyday Players (born in 1955, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Robin Yount
Willie Wilson
Lonnie Smith
Dwayne Murphy
Wayne Tolleson
Pitchers (born in 1955, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Jack Morris
Jeff Reardon
Ed Whitson
Bryn Smith
Ted Power
Dave Smith
Mike Scott
Shane Rawley
Lary Sorensen
Bob Owchinko
Mike Norris