Circle of Greats 1952-Part 1 Balloting

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This post is for voting and discussion in the nineteenth round of balloting for the Circle of Greats. This round begins to add those players born in 1952. Rules and lists are after the jump.

Players born in 1952 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 new group joins the holdovers from previous rounds to comprise the full group eligible to receive your votes this round. The new group of 1952-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).

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 Thursday, May 23, while changes to previously cast ballots are allowed until 11:00 PM EDT Tuesday, May 21.

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: 1952 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-1952 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 (10 everyday players and one lone pitcher) 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 1952 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 42 players born in 1952 who met the “10 seasons played or 20 WAR” minimum requirement. 21 of those are being added to the eligible list this round (alphabetically from Bill Almon through Dennis Lamp). The 21 players further down in the alphabet will be added next round.

Holdovers:
Tony Gwynn (eligibility guaranteed for 11 rounds)
John Smoltz (eligibility guaranteed for 6 rounds)
Paul Molitor (eligibility guaranteed for 5 rounds)
Lou Whitaker (eligibility guaranteed for 5 rounds)
Alan Trammell (eligibility guaranteed for 4 rounds)
Ozzie Smith (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Craig Biggio (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Tim Raines (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Roberto Alomar (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Eddie Murray (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Ryne Sandberg (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)

Everyday Players (born in 1952, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Greg Gross
Dave Collins
Bill Almon
Marc Hill
Jerry Hairston
Ray Knight
Steve Henderson
Dan Ford
Wayne Gross
Mike Ivie
Tim Blackwell
Rich Dauer
Barry Foote

Pitchers (born in 1952, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Terry Forster
Dennis Lamp
Mike Krukow
Joaquin Andujar
John Denny
Jerry Augustine
Bill Castro
Al Holland

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Mike HBC

11 years ago

Jeez, as if 1952 wasn’t a sufficiently poor year without being split up…

Anyway, switching it up a bit:
Ozzie, Molitor, Alomar.

Mike HBC

11 years ago

Reply to Mike HBC

Total All-Star selections of the 21 new players on the ballot (assuming I didn’t miscount): nine. And four of those were Joaquin Andujar, who had more ASG selections than seasons with a WAR above 1.5.

robbs

11 years ago

Reply to Mike HBC

I think Joaquin got selected partly on the great profile Sports Illustrated did on him and his unique speech patterns. “Would you like a beer? It’s great to be alive, because when you’re dead, you can’t drink beer.”

Nick Pain

11 years ago

Ozzie, Molitor, Rock Raines

Artie Z

11 years ago

Raines, Molitor, Murray

11 years ago

Ozzie Smith, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell

No one new is even worth considering. I guess John Denny is the closest, but he’s not gonna get any votes. At least we’re guaranteed to winnow down the holdover list by at least one.

Mike HBC

11 years ago

Reply to MJ

If anybody gets a single vote that isn’t for personal reasons (and if you want to vote for a guy because he was on your team, so be it- there are certainly times I could’ve voted for someone else over Smoltz but didn’t), I would be absolutely amazed.

Even with the next round of voting, Fred Lynn will get enough votes to move on to 1951, Darrell Porter might receive a little support (though I personally can’t imagine even the tiniest shred of compelling evidence for voting for him), and nobody else will get a whiff of a non-personal vote.

Dr. Doom

11 years ago

Reply to Mike HBC

Now that I look at it, 1952, 1950, and 1948 are all fairly weak years, with no one particularly outstanding in any of them, the best being (I think) Fred Lynn, Ron Guidry, and Ron Cey, respectively, none of whom should really make much of a dent at all on the ballot. Those will be the years for the backlog to clean up a bit. Because starting in 1948, there’s AT LEAST one outstanding candidate every single year, and that doesn’t clear up until 1933, at which point we’ll be looking at a backlog featuring some of the current players… Read more »

David Horwich

11 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

I find it curious that these baby boom years of the late ’40s/early ’50s produced so few outstanding players – I can’t think of a good reason why that would be. True, by the time kids born in these years were in their teens football was rapidly gaining popularity, but that doesn’t seem a sufficient explanation.

Anyone have any theories?

Insert Name Here

11 years ago

Reply to David Horwich

I can’t think of a reason why. Looking at baseball in the 1960s (when they were teens, as you said), one thing stands out: expansion overload, especially westward. The Dodgers, Giants, and A’s moved out west, and the Angels, Padres, and the infamous Seattle Pilots were propped up out there as well. Divisions had to be introduced in 1969 because there was too much expansion.

David Horwich

11 years ago

Reply to David Horwich

I wonder if the growth of Little League in the 1950s had something to do with it (the theory being that more regimented youth baseball ironically enough resulted in less development of skills). Of course, even if there is a correlation, that still doesn’t prove causality.

11 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

As bad as this year is there are some REALLY interesting years coming up. Next year three HOFers (Blyleven, Gossage and Winfield) plus two SABR darlings (Buddy Bell and Dwight Evans). 1949 brings Mike Schmidt plus two more SABR darlings – Bobby Grich and Rick Reuschel. 1947 has Bench, Fisk and Nolan Ryan. 1946 has Reggie, Catfish and Rollie Fingers – three more HOFers. 1945 has 3 more – Sutton, Palmer and Carew. 1944 – Seaver and Carlton. I could go one but you get the picture. Some really stacked years coming up.

Dr. Doom

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

Right. That’s why I’m personally pretty doubtful as to anyone from our current backlog getting in, unless they manage it by the 1950 election – and maybe they’ll have to make it in 1952! So it’ll be tough for these guys when they’re up against so many HOF guys.

Author

birtelcom

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

How many of the guys you named, Ed, are really that much ahead of the current holdover group? I don’t see a whole lot of our voters looking at Catfish or Rollie, for example, and sending them straight to the top of the class over the current holdover group. We’ll see, I guess.

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

Birtelcom – Oh I agree re: Fingers and Catfish. But they are HOFers which is why I listed them. Same with Gossage. Hard to see him getting more support than Eck got.

But the others? I certainly expect Blyleven, Winfield, Schmidt, Bench, Fisk, Ryan, Palmer, Sutton, Carew, Carlton and Seaver to get plenty of support. Probably Grich since I think he compares favorably to the “Detroit Duo”. Not sure about Bell or Evans but I expect them to at least get a look and maybe stick around for a ballot or two.

Dr. Doom

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

In the next ten elections (through 1946), this is who I would induct:

1952a: Trammell
1952b: Sandberg
1951: Blyleven
1950: O. Smith
1949a: Schmidt
1949b: Grich
1948: Reuschel
1947: Bench
1946a: R. Jackson
1946b: Ryan

I doubt that’s what’ll happen, but that’s who I have (although Kevin Brown, Edgar Martinez, Kenny Lofton, or Bret Saberhagen COULD throw a wrench in that, if one of them were “redeemed”).

brp

11 years ago

Trammell
Sandberg
Molitor

Chris C

11 years ago

Biggio, Raines, Alomar

The Diamond King

11 years ago

Murray, Gwynn, Ozzie

Dr. Doom

11 years ago

Crazy that one of the weakest birth years in a long time (and FOR a long time, actually) is getting a split round. But good in the sense that it’ll give some of these backloggers a chance to get on the ballot.

I’m posting the same ballot, and I will next round, too (unless one of them falls off the ballot):

Alan Trammell
Ryne Sandberg
Ozzie Smith

Here’s hoping for some support for Ryno to stay on, and for Trammell to get elected!

Jeff Harris

11 years ago

Whitaker, Trammell, Gwynn

J.R. Lebert

11 years ago

Raines, Gwynn, Biggio.

oneblankspace

11 years ago

Biggio, Polly Molly, Gwynn

Brent

11 years ago

Ozzie, Whitaker and Alomar

Author

birtelcom

11 years ago

I just now corrected a couple of the guaranteed eligibility year numbers to properly reflect the results of the last round. Smoltz is at six holdover rounds and Biggio at two.

koma

11 years ago

Tony Gwynn, John Smoltz, Lou Whitaker

Mike

11 years ago

Ozzie Smith
John Smoltz
Tony Gwynn

May God have mercy on me because One Tough Dominican will likely unleash anger not seen this side of Kansas City in October 1985 when he hears I didn’t vote for him.

Author

birtelcom

11 years ago

Reply to Mike

That Andujar tantrum in the ’85 World Series Game 7 is one of my most vivid TV baseball memories. Unfortunately I haven’t found any Internet video of it to link to.

David Horwich

11 years ago

Alomar, Raines, Smith

Mike L

11 years ago

Ozzie, Molitor, and with no slight intended to Trammell, I’m picking Sandberg because I think he merits continued discussion. With the weaker fields to come over the next few years, we might have a better chance to bore in on some of the holdovers.

bcholm

11 years ago

Ozzie, Raines, Sandberg

GrandyMan

11 years ago

Smith, Whitaker, Smoltz.

mosc

11 years ago

Molitor, Smoltz, Gwynn

How come this year is split? Both split years are clustered together? I wish the split years were later or at least evenly spaced.

Author

birtelcom

11 years ago

Reply to mosc

I’m splitting every third year. 1958 was split, then 1955, now 1952. 1949 and 1946 will be the next split years after this.

Abbott

11 years ago

Biggio, Raines, Alomar

T-Bone

11 years ago

Raines
Sandberg
Molitor

JEV

11 years ago

Smoltz, Gwynn, Biggio

aweb

11 years ago

Molitor, Trammell, Whitaker

Editor

Bryan O'Connor

11 years ago

First, a shoutout to Ray Knight, my Halloween costume when I was six.

Wins Above Average, excluding negative seasons (updated to reflect the new, uniform replacement level):

Trammell 44.7
Smith 44.0
Whitaker 42.7
Molitor 40.7
Smoltz 40.1
Sandberg 38.8
Alomar 36.8
Raines 36.8
Gwynn 36.5
Biggio 36.3
Murray 34.9

Trammell, Smith, Smoltz

Kirk

11 years ago

Gwynn, Raines & Alomar

jeff b

11 years ago

Smoltz, molitor and Murray

ATarwerdi96

11 years ago

Paul Molitor, Tony Gwynn, Lou Whitaker

Insert Name Here

11 years ago

Using my method of peak WAR/162, there are no newcomers worthy of HOF status this round. Hopefully, this means another of the middle infielder glut will be voted in. Here is my inital vote, for three holdovers: 1. Ozzie Smith (5.8 WAR/162 during 1980-92) 2. Alan Trammell (6.4 WAR/162 during 1980-90) 3. Ryne Sandberg (6.2 WAR/162 during 1984-92) I’m pulling for either Ozzie or Trammell to win this round, although I also want to see the three “on-the-bubble” guys (Sandberg, Murray, and Alomar) get through. Here is my ranking of other HOF-worthy candidates (also all holdovers): 4. Craig Biggio (5.8… Read more »

11 years ago

Tony Gwynn, Lou Whitaker, Craig Biggio

Voomo Zanzibar

11 years ago

Ozzie Smith
Tony Gwynn
Roberto Alomar

Nadig

11 years ago

Molitor, Smith, Gwynn.

Hub Kid

11 years ago

Alan Trammell, Eddie Murray, Roberto Alomar

Andy

11 years ago

Gwynn
Ozzie
Ryno

latefortheparty

11 years ago

Ozzie Smith
Paul Molitor
Lou Whitaker

Shoutouts to John Denny and Joaquin Andujar, staples of my Cardinals adolescence and early adulthood, respectively, and Barry Foote, who is recognized as a native of Smithfield, North Carolina on its city limits sign, which is more than can be said for the much more attractive (in my opinion) Ava Gardner.

Brent

11 years ago

Reply to latefortheparty

HOld on, are you saying that Ava Gardner is from Smithfield, NC and they say they are the home of Barry Foote instead of her on the City limits sign? That is crazy.

Author

birtelcom

11 years ago

Reply to Brent

I gather from a Google search that there is an Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield. No sign of one for Barry. Perhaps they could do something that jointly honors both local sports stars generally and Barry specifically — the Smithfield Athletes/Foote Museum.

latefortheparty

11 years ago

Reply to birtelcom

There is indeed an Ava Gardner museum. Perhaps birtelcom has figured out an appropriate recognition for Barry, even if it only remains conceptual. As far as the sign goes, perhaps the current town fathers figure Ava since already has the museum, maybe the sign would be parity for Barry.

Hartvig

11 years ago

Trammell, Whitaker, Sandberg

Eric

11 years ago

Sandberg, Raines, Biggio

Darien

11 years ago

Trammell, Smith, and Raines

Gary Bateman

11 years ago

Gwynn, Molitor, Alomar

Phil

11 years ago

Exact same: Gwynn, Molitor, Alomar. I wish Alomar would get in or get knocked off. I’m wedded to voting for him because of sentiment, but for a number of ballots, I also always felt like he was one of the three most deserving. On the last six or seven ballots, though, I’ve voted for him on more than one occasion knowing he wasn’t one of the three best candidates.

Doug

11 years ago

Whitaker, Raines, Ozzie

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Gwynn, Molitor, Murray

Lawrence Azrin

11 years ago

Back to all strategic voting:

– Eddie Murray
– Ryne Sandberg
– Craig Biggio

Still way too many deserving candidates on the ballot. Eliminating two this year will only start to make a dent in the situation.

Hartvig

11 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Last 3 ballots- 9 votes total- 8 different players At this point that leaves only Murray & Smoltz with less than 8 votes. In all but 3 of the elections 8 votes would guarantee moving forward to the next year. And in 6 of the last 7 elections, 7 votes would have been enough to move on. With 6 votes each and no new viable candidates to choose it’s hard to imagine that Murray & Smoltz won’t pick up at least another vote or 2. Plus we have 7 of the 11 returning candidates currently with 25% of the votes… Read more »

11 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

Many people here are concerned about the large number of candidates on the backlog, but at the same time there is a great deal of energy invested in making sure that marginal candidates remain on the backlog. Very odd.

mosc

11 years ago

Reply to MJ

We even have redemption rounds to put them back on the ballot and people still panic about them dropping off. I agree. In general, the ballot is too big.

Author

birtelcom

11 years ago

Reply to MJ

MJ: It may seem odd, but it’s different sets of voters. Remember it takes just 10% of the voters using just one of their three ballot spots to keep a guy alive to the next round. The system, intentionally, does not allow them to be trumped by even a large group of other voters who would prefer that the group as a whole not have such a wide choice. If large-ballot advocates have their way, it doesn’t limit the choices of the small-ballot proponents, who never have to vote for any player they believe does not belong on the ballot.… Read more »

MikeD

11 years ago

Gwynn, Smith, Alomar.

--bill

11 years ago

Molitor, Smith, Murray

11 years ago

Gwynn (for a guy who grew up on traditional stats, 18th all time batting avg, pretty impressive)
Molitor (despite the DH time)
Smith (drew a straw between him, Trammel and Whitaker, can’t really decide)

RonG

11 years ago

Smith, Trammell, Biggio

Arsen

11 years ago

Molitor, Alomar, Smith
All infielders. All deserving.

Of course I could have voted Sandberg, Whitaker and Trammell and said the same thing.

Jeff Hill

11 years ago

Gwynn, Raines, Smoltz

Really could vote for Molitor and any of the numerous defensive infielders listed but can’t overlook anyone who ranks in the top 3 all time in any one category(Raines SB%is best ever, steals 3rd). JAWS has him 8th best LF ever, Rice is 26, Lou Brock is 33…

How Gwynn doesn’t recieve more votes is beyond incredible.

Jeff Hill

11 years ago

Gwynn, Raines, Smoltz

How Gwynn doesn’t receive more votes is beyond incredible.