Pete Rose and Nolan Ryan each appeared on exactly 26 of 58 ballots in the 1941 round of the Circle of Greats (COG) voting, just ahead of Jim Palmer, who appeared on 23 ballots. To resolve the tie between Rose and Ryan, this post opens a runoff vote. Unlike ordinary COG rounds, your ballots in this runoff should include one name, instead of the usual three names. And unlike in ordinary rounds, where you have many choices of who to vote for, here you are choosing only between the two guys, Pete Rose and Nolan Ryan. As always, feel free to explain why you are choosing who you are choosing, or if you merely prefer to state your choice without further explanation, that’s fine too.
One thing Rose and Ryan have in common is the sheer amount of major league baseball they each played.
Most Plate Appearances by a Batter in MLB History, Regular Season and Post-Season Combined:
1. Pete Rose 16,191
2. Carl Yastrzemski 14,068
3. Hank Aaron 14,015
4. Rickey Henderson 13,608
5. Ty Cobb 13,153
Most MLB Batters Faced by a Pitcher Since 1900, Regular Season and Post-Season Combined:
1. Walter Johnson 23,617
2. Nolan Ryan 22,801
3. Phil Niekro 22,740
4. Steve Carlton 22,112
5. Don Sutton 22,038
The player who receives the most votes in this runoff will be inducted into the Circle of Greats. The loser in this vote may or may not also be inducted, based on the voting in the 1940 Part 1 round which will be going on at the same time. If the loser is not inducted via the 1940 Part 1 voting, he will go back into the usual list of holdovers for the 1940 Part 2 voting next week.
All voting for this runoff round closes at 11:00 PM EST EDT on Friday, November 8, while changes to previously cast ballots are allowed until 11:00 PM EST EDT Wednesday, November 6.
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 runoff vote here: COG 1941 Runoff 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.
In order to avoid a second tie, the following rule will apply to this runoff vote: If the result of this runoff would be a tie as of the vote closing on Friday night, November 8, the tie will be broken by reverting to the vote count as it stood immediately prior to the final vote that was cast before the vote closing time.
