After barely being nosed out by John Smoltz in the 1924 round voting, Duke Snider appeared on eight more ballots than last round, a level of support that proved more than enough to become the 59th inductee into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats. More on the Duke and the voting, after that ever-present jump.
Most Regular Season Home Runs, 1950-1959
1. Duke Snider 326
2. Gil Hodges 310
3. Eddie Mathews 299
4. Mickey Mantle 280
5. Stan Musial 266
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Most Career World Series Home Runs, National League
1. Duke Snider 11
2. Chase Utley 7
3. Len Dykstra 6
T4. Gil Hodges and Johnny Bench 5
Adding in AL hitters, only Mantle, Ruth and Berra have more World Series homers than Snider.
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Most Wins Above Replacement (“WAR”, baseball-reference version), 1953-1956
1. Duke Snider 33.8
2. Mickey Mantle 33.0
3. Eddie Mathews 29.2
4. Robin Roberts 27.3 (25.6 pitcher WAR and 1.7 batter WAR)
5. Willie Mays 27.2
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Notes on the 1924 round of voting:
–Richie Ashburn was saved form dropping off the ballot, and Minnie Minoso saved from falling onto the bubble, by the very last ballot cast this round. The number of holdovers for the next round remains stable at twelve, as the inducted Duke Snider is replaced on the holdover list by newcomer Larry Doby.
–Craig Biggio and Ryne Sandberg have been sitting on the bubble for many rounds now. Each of these guys flirted with the 25% support level this round that would have gotten him off the bubble, but ultimately Biggio fell one vote short and Sandberg three votes short.
–Biggio’s appearance on 16 ballots this round was his highest level of support in 32 rounds. Sandberg’s appearance on 14 ballots this round was his highest level of support in 38 rounds.
–So the holdover list for the next round remains at 12, while the bubble list increases to six: Biggio and Sandberg, Ashburn and Eddie Murray, Harmon Killebrew and now Doby as well.
–Whitey Ford did manage to just exceed the 25% level, increasing his number of protected eligibility rounds from 2 to 3.
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The full spreadsheet showing this round’s vote tally is here: COG 1923 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.
