This post is for voting and discussion in the twenty-ninth round of balloting for the Circle of Greats. This round adds those players born in 1945. Rules and lists are after the jump.
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 1945-born players must, as always, 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 Sunday, September 15, while changes to previously cast ballots are allowed until 11:00 PM EDT Friday, September 13.
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: 1945 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-1945 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 ten 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 1945 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.
Holdovers:
Lou Whitaker (eligibility guaranteed for 11 rounds)
John Smoltz (eligibility guaranteed for 9 rounds)
Nolan Ryan (eligibility guaranteed for 6 rounds)
Bobby Grich (eligibility guaranteed for 5 rounds)
Craig Biggio (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Edgar Martinez (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Roberto Alomar (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Kenny Lofton (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Eddie Murray (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Ryne Sandberg (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
Everyday Players (born in 1945, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Jay Johnstone
Rod Carew
Hal McRae
Rick Monday
Reggie Smith
Larry Bowa
Davey Lopes
Mike Lum
Larry Biittner
Duffy Dyer
Ralph Garr
Bobby Tolan
Ted Sizemore
Bob Stinson
Dave Duncan
George Mitterwald
Bill Melton
Pitchers (born in 1945, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Don Sutton
Jim Palmer
Rick Wise
Ken Holtzman
Dick Drago
Blue Moon Odom
Geoff Zahn
Dock Ellis
Andy Messersmith
Tom Murphy
Don Wilson