Circle of Greats 1934 Part 2 Results: Arriba! COG Welcomes Roberto

“Arriba” was Roberto Clemente‘s nickname and an apt one it was. TheFreeDictionary.com defines the idiom as “an expression of pleasure, approval or elation”, a sentiment that Clemente inspired in most who saw him play.

I only saw Clemente at the tail end of his career, but his skill and passion for the game were still plainly evident. I have quite vivid memories of the 1971 post-season when Clemente, with an 18-hit barrage good for a .383/.420/.596 slash, carried his team to a World Series championship, capped by a game 7 home run off Mike Cuellar that stood until the 8th inning as the only run of a taut pitchers’ duel ultimately decided by a 2-1 score.

Even among the pantheon of all-time greats who graced baseball’s stage in the 1960s, Clemente holds an honored place. Indeed, a compelling case can be made that he was among the two or three most dominant players of his time.

More on Clemente after the jump.

Clemente becomes the 45th player inducted into the Circle of Greats. He and Bob Gibson led the voting from start to finish, each mentioned on more than half of the ballots cast. Among players introduced to the ballot in this round, only Roger Maris received even a single vote. That allowed a number of players in their last round of eligibility to attract sufficient support to survive to the next round of COG balloting.

The full spreadsheet showing this round’s vote tally is here: COG 1934 Part 2 Vote Tally. The vote summary for recent Circle of Greats voting rounds is here: COG Vote Summary 2 .  An archive with fuller details of the earlier, 1968 through 1939, rounds is here: COG 1968-1939 Vote Summary .  In both of the Vote Summary workbooks, raw vote totals for each past round appear on Sheet 1 and the percentage totals for each past round appear on Sheet 2.

Some superlatives on Clemente’s career:

  • 1966 NL MVP. 4 times in top 5, 8 times in top 10, 11 times in top 15, in MVP voting.
  • 12-time All-Star. 12 consecutive gold gloves in RF (1961-72)
  • 94.4 career WAR, 25th all-time and 3rd among right-fielders (behind Hank Aaron and Mel Ott)
  • 83.9 WAR for 1960-72, second in period to Hank Aaron. Nine consecutive 5 WAR seasons (1963-71), only player to do so in that period.
  • 3rd highest WAR per PA rate aged 30+, behind only Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds
  • 6th all-time in WAR aged 30-37, behind only Ruth, Mays, Wagner, Bonds and Aaron
  • .300 batting and .450 slugging in 12 of 13 seasons (1960-72). No other player had more than 8 seasons in that period.
  • .362/.383/.534 in two victorious World Series, separated by eleven seasons

Trivia time. How does Clemente get included among this unlikely collection of players (including two of his teammates) who, alone among National Leaguers since 1961, accomplished a certain seasonal batting feat?

Second bit of trivia: Clemente appeared in this game, the first ever played with what distinguishing characteristic.

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Artie Z.
Artie Z.
10 years ago

For trivia 1, over half of their walks were intentional? Perhaps with some base level of walks?

The base level is actually qualified for the batting title.

Artie Z.
Artie Z.
10 years ago
Reply to  Artie Z.

Let me be more clear because I was messing with the PI:

They had at least one season in which they qualified for the batting title and more than half of their walks were intentional. Sanguillen had 3 such seasons and Templeton 4.

Mike L
Mike L
10 years ago

Apropos of nothing, Doug Flynn had eight walks in 485 PA’s in 1982. 14 IBB out of 22 total in 1982 (474 PA) in 1980
Career, 151 Walks in 4085 PA. Lifetime OPS+ of 58, career b-WAR of -6.9. So, in 1982 they were pitching around him?
OMG

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
10 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Those 14 IBB out of 22 total BB in 1980 for Flynn occurred because 470 of his 474 PA were from the #8 position in the batting order, just ahead of the pitcher. Since 1961 there were 16 seasons of IBB greater than 0.5 BB in the NL, none in the AL. Of the 16 seasons, 11 occurred after the DH rule.
Flynn is on the list because of his 1981 season when he qualified for the batting title and 8 of his 11 BB were intentional. 7 of them occurred while he was batting 8th.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
10 years ago

Cumulative IBB by batting position in the NL since 1945:

1st….2413
2nd….1058
3rd….5965
4th….8022
5th….5420
6th….4899
7th….4787
8th….10426
9th….1062

Bix
Bix
10 years ago

For trivia 2… is it that every Pirate who played in that game recorded a put out? I don’t see much else terribly unusual looking about it.

Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom
10 years ago

Does trivia #2 have anything to do with the seven HOFers who played (and batted) in that game? It’s pretty odd to have that many in one game, particularly in the expansion era. Probably not, but it’s worth a shot.

Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom
10 years ago

Also, I started doing Votes*Vote%, to see who our “favorite” candidates ever have been. I’ll continue to post that, along with all players who top 75%, and all players who top 50 votes. Votes*Vote% Greg Maddux, 61.56 Randy Johnson, 60.50 George Brett, 53.26 Cal Ripken, Jr., 51.26 Mike Schmidt, 59.59 Tom Seaver, 48.02 Rickey Henderson, 46.75 Frank Robinson, 46.72 Hank Aaron, 46.54 Johnny Bench, 41.40 Carl Yastrzemski, 41.31 Vote % George Brett, 93.44 Randy Johnson, 91.67 Greg Maddux, 90.67 Mike Schmidt, 90.16 Tom Seaver, 87.30 Hank Aaron, 84.62 Johnny Bench, 84.48 Cal Ripken, Jr., 82.67 Joe Morgan, 81.82 Frank Robinson,… Read more »

Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom
10 years ago

OK… last one for now. I was just checking the all-time vote totals by players. Here are the COG players who have topped 250 votes in all combined elections: John Smoltz – 505 Craig Biggio – 453 Roberto Alomar – 422 Lou Whitaker – 418 Tony Gwynn – 346 Ryne Sandberg – 342 Edgar Martinez – 303 Eddie Murray – 299 Kenny Lofton – 270 Tom Glavine – 262 Bobby Grich – 258 I fully expect that, after next round, #s 2-5 in votes received will be the infamous “2B Backlog.” Not surprising, since we’ve been voting on many of… Read more »

Paul E
Paul E
10 years ago
Reply to  Dr. Doom

Dr. Doom in #7:
Just curious, how would you, personally, rate the five 2B listed in your voting backlog paragraph?

Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom
10 years ago
Reply to  Paul E

I’ve actually had to do this a lot of times, because all five were on something like 8 or 10 ballots together. I use baseball-reference WAR and adjust for peak. I order all the player’s seasons from best to worst, and then the first one gets multiplied by 1, the second by .9, the third by .81, the fourth by .729, etc. In other words any given season is 90% as valuable as the season better than it. Then I multiply the whole thing by 1.8, so that it resembles the player’s career WAR total. Here are those five, with… Read more »

Paul E
Paul E
10 years ago
Reply to  Dr. Doom

Doom: I trust your theory of peak season multiplying of WAR more than WAR itself; but, then that limited faith in WAR would kind of implode your “system”. By the same token, my opinion in this democracy is worth no more (or less) than yours. And, being older than Sandberg and younger than Whitaker, I did have a chance to see them all play. However, national TV was limited in the 70’s-80’s and not much viewing of Grich in action was to be had save for local TV in B’more. Your system definitely has a lot of merit regarding guys… Read more »

mosc
mosc
10 years ago
Reply to  Dr. Doom

I like your method. I might use an even steeper percentage than 90%. Is it easy to see what the results would be if you played with that number some? Say 80%?

Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom
10 years ago
Reply to  mosc

I actually settled on 90 because I liked the results. Something like 95 was way too high. I did try 80. It ends up a little weird, I think. Guys like Dick Allen ZOOM higher than one might be tempted to otherwise rank them. A guy like Craig Biggio, who had one OUTSTANDING season, moves way above some other guys who had otherwise comparable (and in fact better) careers. 90 was a place where I felt comfortable. But please be my guest to use the method, and try it with other numbers, if you’re so inclined. Feel free!

bells
bells
10 years ago
Reply to  Dr. Doom

It wasn’t highlighted in Doug’s post, but Steady Eddie just fell off the ballot too. (along with Allen and Killebrew). Next redemption round should be dynamite.

Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom
10 years ago
Reply to  bells

Oh yeah! Eddie fell off, too. You’re totally right. Good catch. So make that four of the top twelve all-time in votes received who have fallen off. Again, if Martinez and Lofton are exemplars, it’s entirely possible that Eddie and Roberto could be headed for an even better future than their initial run on the ballot.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
10 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Banks, Clemente, Stargell, Williams, Pepitone, Santo and Callison all had 200+ lifetime HR.

Steven
Steven
10 years ago

July 15, 1967: Clemente hit a line drive up the middle, breaking the leg of…Bob Gibson.

PaulE
PaulE
10 years ago

Richard Chester used to work for Scotland Yard. If there is a quiz where any and everyone can’t figure it out, Richard will get it. Always impressive.

No kidding- you should help out the FBI in missing persons

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
10 years ago
Reply to  PaulE

PaulE: Thanks for the compliment but puzzle-solving is a hobby of mine. I work on two crossword puzzles and a cryptogram every day, I have a subscription to Dell Magazine’s Math and Logic Problems and I play the on-line Free Cell game endlessly. And you have to try to think like Doug does. When the time comes I have a couple of quizzes for him.

bstar
10 years ago

Just read this. Richard: have you seen the documentary Wordplay? It’s about the people who make crossword puzzles and the top crossword players in the country. I watched it last week; it’s a pleasant hour and a half if you haven’t seen it.