This post is for voting and discussion in the 35th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG).  This round begins to add those players born in 1940.  Rules and lists are after the jump.

Players born in 1940 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.

Because there will be, at the same time as this 1940-Part 1 balloting,  a runoff election underway to resolve the tie in the 1941 round, voters will have some unusual choices to make for their ballots this round.  Both Pete Rose and Nolan Ryan are listed as holdovers in the eligible list below, because as of now the start of voting neither has had been inducted.  You may if you wish include either of these guys on your ballot as one of your three choices.  That is a way to help support your choice if he does not succeed in the runoff.  The downside of such a vote is that if your choice does win the runoff, then the ballot spot you used for him will have been used for someone who, it turns out, did not need your vote.  You may want to keep an eye on how the runoff election is going during the week, and check to see if you want to change your vote in this round before the vote-changing deadline on Saturday Wednesday next week.  

If you want to vote for both Rose and Ryan, on the theory that whichever one loses the runoff deserves your vote, you need not use two ballot spots to do so.  You can instead cast a vote for “Rose/Ryan” or “Ryan/Rose”, which I will treat as a vote for “whoever loses the runoff”.  You will then still be able to include two other names on your ballot.  In counting the votes at the end of the balloting, all the votes cast for “Rose/Ryan” or “Ryan/Rose” will be added to the votes for the  one of those two guys who loses the runoff.  At the end of the voting this round, all votes that were cast for the guy who turns out to have won the runoff will be deleted from the vote count, all the vote percentages will be re-calculated based on the deletion of those votes, and the results will then be applied as they always are.    

As usual, the new group of 1940-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 (with the special exception mentioned above that one of your three votes can be cast in the form of “Ryan/Rose” or “Rose/Ryan”).  The one player who appears on the most ballots cast in the round (after the special adjustment is made eliminating the votes for the winner of the runoff vote) is inducted into the Circle of Greats.  Players who fail to win induction but appear on half or more of the (post-runoff adjustment) ballots that are cast win four added future rounds of ballot eligibility. Players who appear on 25% or more of the (post runoff-adjustment) 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 (post runoff-adjustment) ballots, wins one additional round of ballot eligibility.

All voting for this round closes at 11:00 PM EST EDT on Friday, November 8 Sunday, November 10, while changes to previously cast ballots are allowed until 11:00 PM EST EDT Wednesday, November 6 Saturday, November 9.

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: COG 1940 Round 1 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-1940 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 13 current holdovers (including Rose and Ryan) 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 1940 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 30 players born in 1940 who met the “10 seasons played or 20 WAR” minimum requirement.  15 of those are being added to the eligible list this round (alphabetically from Jack Aker through Ellie Hendricks).  The 15 players further down in the alphabet will be added next round.

Holdovers:
Nolan Ryan (eligibility guaranteed for 12 rounds)
Lou Whitaker (eligibility guaranteed for 10 rounds)
John Smoltz (eligibility guaranteed for 8 rounds)
Jim Palmer (eligibility guaranteed for 6 rounds)
Bobby Grich (eligibility guaranteed for 4 rounds)
Craig Biggio (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Edgar Martinez (eligibility guaranteed for 3 rounds)
Kenny Lofton (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Pete Rose (eligibility guaranteed for 2 rounds)
Dick Allen (eligibility guaranteed for this round only)
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 1940, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Willie Davis
Tommy Harper
Larry Brown
Danny Cater
Elrod Hendricks
Gene Alley
Glenn Beckert
John Bateman
Horace Clarke

Pitchers (born in 1940, ten or more seasons played in the major leagues or at least 20 WAR):
Woodie Fryman
Dick Ellsworth
Tony Cloninger
Jack Aker
Bill Hands
Jim Hannan