Nolan Ryan crept as close as one vote back during this week’s voting but Fergie Jenkins, in his first ballot appearance, ultimately pulled away with a strong showing. Jenkins appeared on well over half the ballots to become the 33rd player inducted into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats. More on Jenkins, and the balloting results, after the jump (or you can click here first for another Fergie: Fergalicious ).
Most Pitching Wins Above Replacement (“WAR”, baseball-reference version) for the Chicago Cubs Franchise:
1. Ferguson Jenkins 53.3
2. Rick Reuschel 48.4
3. Mordecai Brown 45.2
4. Clark Griffith 44.4
5. Pete Alexander 41.8
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Most Pitching WAR in a Season for the Texas Rangers Franchise:
1. Ferguson Jenkins (1974) 7.7
2. Ken Hill (1996) 6.6
3. Jon Matlack (1978) 6.4
4. Charlie Hough (1985) 6.3
5. Jim Kern (1979) 6.2
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Pitchers With Most Regular Season Starts, Age 24 through 32 Seasons, since 1901:
1. Ferguson Jenkins 350
2. Claude Osteen 338
3. Mickey Lolich 335
4. Robin Roberts 331
5. Jim Palmer 330
Pitchers With Most Regular Season Starts Over Any Nine-Season Period, since 1901:
1. Don Drysdale (1959-1967) 352
2. Ferguson Jenkins (1967-1975) 350
T3. Don Drysdale (1960-1968) and Gaylord Perry (1967-1975) 347
5. Phil Niekro (1972-1980) 346
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–Nolan Ryan continues to run up his number of solid second place finishes, and now has 11 accumulated rounds of eligibility, more than any other holdover. Recurring third-place finisher Jim Palmer has recently grown closer in the voting to Ryan (a mere three votes behind Ryan this round) and is also steadily accumulating extra rounds of stored eligibility.
–10 different newcomers, guys born in 1942, appeared at least once on a ballot this round — a large number for a COG vote. Dick Allen, a controversial figure, received enough support to carry over at least another round. Another controversial figure will likely be prominent in the next round’s voting and discussion.
–Roberto Alomar, Eddie Murray and Ryne Sandberg continue to survive on the bubble round to round and are now joined there by Dick Allen.
As usual, you can check out the complete voting record for this past round at Google Docs. The link is here: COG 1942 Round Vote Tally.
If you would like to review the history of the COG voting, a spreadsheet summary of the voting is here: COG Vote Summary , with a summary of the raw vote totals on Sheet 1 and a summary of the percentage totals on Sheet 2.
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The Circle of Greats membership thus far (currently being displayed in order of major league regular season games played):
Rickey Henderson, 3,081 games
Cal Ripken, Jr., 3,001 games
Barry Bonds, 2,986 games
Robin Yount, 2,856 games
Reggie Jackson, 2,820 games
George Brett, 2,707 games
Paul Molitor, 2,683 games
Joe Morgan, 2,649 games
Ozzie Smith, 2,573 games
Tim Raines, 2,502 games
Carlton Fisk, 2,499 games
Rod Carew, 2,469 games
Wade Boggs, 2,440 games
Tony Gwynn, 2,440 games
Mike Schmidt, 2,404 games
Frank Thomas, 2,322 games
Gary Carter, 2,295 games
Alan Trammell, 2,293 games
Barry Larkin, 2,180 games
Johnny Bench, 2,158 games
Jeff Bagwell, 2,150 games
Larry Walker, 1,988 games
Mike Piazza, 1,912 games
Greg Maddux, 744 games
Steve Carlton, 741 games
Roger Clemens, 709 games
Bert Blyleven, 692 games
Tom Glavine, 692 games
Fergie Jenkins, 665 games
Tom Seaver, 656 games
Randy Johnson, 618 games
Curt Schilling, 569 games
Mike Mussina, 537 games