For the fourth round in a row, an infielder has edged out Juan Marichal and Sandy Koufax. This time Ernie Banks, who played more games for the Cubs franchise than anyone else, earned induction into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats, as our 54th inductee. More on Banks and the voting after the jump.
Over the seven-year period from 1955 through 1961, Ernie Banks, as the Cubs regular shortstop, generated 52 Wins Above Replacement, according to the formula used by Baseball-Reference.com. That’s an average of more than 7 WAR per season, almost an MVP-quality season on average throughout this period. In all of baseball history, only Honus Wagner and Alex Rodriguez accumulated more WAR over a seven-year period at shortstop. The only players in the majors who generated more WAR than Ernie’s 52.0 from anywhere on the diamond over the period 1955-1961 were the outfield triumvirate of Mantle, Mays and Aaron.
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Only three men have played more games at shortstop for the Cubs than Banks: Joe Tinker, Don Kessinger and Shawn Dunston. And only three men have played more games at first base for the Cubs than Banks: Cap Anson, Charlie Grimm and Mark Grace.
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Most Home Runs in One Ballpark
1. Mel Ott, Polo Grounds 323
2. Sammy Sosa, Wrigley Field 293
3. Ernie Banks, Wrigley Field 290
4. Mickey Mantle, Yankee Stadium 266
5. Mike Schmidt, Veterans Stadium 265
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Notes on the 1927 round of voting:
–Richie Ashburn, a newcomer to the ballot as a member of the 1927 birth-year class, won at least one more round on the ballot by topping the 10% level of support. With Banks elected, the holdover list remains at twelve players.
–Kenny Lofton appeared on 29% of the ballots, his best showing ever. In 40 rounds on the ballot, during which he has been twice knocked off the ballot and twice redeemed, his two best previous showings had been 27% and 21%. His popularity this round was enough to get him off the bubble, where he’s been for the last 16 rounds.
–With Ashburn joining the holdover list without any eligibility to spare, he replaces Lofton on the bubble, where we also still have four other guys — Killebrew, Murray, Sandberg and Biggio.
–In addition to Lofton, other guys who topped 25% and added an extra serving of eligibility to their plates: Marichal and Koufax (each for the fifth round in a row), and Smoltz and Edgar Martinez (each for the second round in a row).
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The full spreadsheet showing this round’s vote tally is here: COG 1927 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 1968 through 1939 rounds is here: COG 1968-1939 Vote Summary . In both cases, raw vote totals for each past round appears on Sheet 1 and the percentage totals for each past round appears on Sheet 2.
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A spreadsheet listing the full membership to date of the Circle of Greats is here: Circle of Greats Membership . You can also now find that same link any time by clicking on “Circle of Greats” at the top of the High Heats Stats home page.
