For the second round in a row, one candidate dominated the voting by an overwhelming margin. This time it was Stan Musial, appearing on a COG-record 94% of the ballots cast. Musial becomes the 63rd inductee in the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats. More on Stan and the voting, after the jump.
Over the 44-season period from 1922 through 1965, here are the top players in the majors in terms of total Wins Above Replacement (“WAR”, baseball-reference version):
1. Stan Musial 128.1
2. Ted Williams 123.1
3. Willie Mays 120.3
4. Babe Ruth 118.1
5. Lou Gehrig 112.4
Most Total Bases, Major League History:
1. Hank Aaron 6,856
2. Stan Musial 6,134
3. Willie Mays 6,066
4. Barry Bonds 5,976
5. Ty Cobb 5,854
Most WAR by a Hitter Who Played for Only One Franchise in His Career, MLB History:
1. Stan Musial 128.1
2. Ted Williams 123.1
3. Lou Gehrig 112.4
4. Mickey Mantle 109.7
5. Mel Ott 107.8
6. Mike Schmidt 106.5
7. Carl Yastremski 96.1
8. Cal Ripken 95.5
9. Roberto Clemente 94.4
10. Al Kaline 92.5
Musial is number #5 in career WAR in NL history, behind Bonds, Aaron, Mays and Honus Wagner, but when he retired at the close of the 1963 season, Stan was #2, slightly behind Wagner.
Most WAR in the National League, 1876-1963:
1. Honus Wagner 131.0
2. Stan Musial 128.1
3. Rogers Hornsby 126.3
4. Mel Ott 107.8
5. Willie Mays 98.0
Most Games Batting Third in the Order, 1914-2014
1. Stan Musial 2,225
2. Ken Griffey, Jr. 2,017
3. Carl Yastrzemski 1,980
4. Billy Williams 1,958
5. Willie Mays 1,939
And lastly, a link: Joe Posnanski on Musial, which may at least partly explain why Stan received a record share of support this round.
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Notes on the 1920 round:
–Besides Musial, the rest of the story this round is pretty straightforward. All 14 holdovers received between 7 and 14 votes, all appearing on more than 10% but less than 21% of the ballots. So all 14 remain just as they were in terms of future eligibility. Newcomers to the ballot Early Wynn, Bob Lemon and Vern Stephens received bits of support from voters but none were ever really in contention to remain on the ballot.
–Ralph Kiner and Hoyt Wilhelm, who don’t have much in common in terms of their baseball profiles (similarity score of zero, one might say), were born three months apart and in their three rounds since joining the COG ballot have received votes of 15, 9 and 8 (Wilhelm) and 16, 8 and 9 (Kiner).
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The full spreadsheet showing this round’s vote tally is here: COG 1920 Vote Tally.
The vote summary for recent Circle of Greats voting rounds is here: COG Vote Summary 2 . An archive with details of the 1968 through 1939 rounds is here: COG 1968-1939 Vote Summary . In both cases, raw vote totals for each past round appear on Sheet 1 and the percentage totals for each past round appear on Sheet 2.
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A spreadsheet listing the full membership to date of the Circle of Greats, along with some of their stats, is here: Circle of Greats Membership . You can also find that same link any time by clicking on “Circle of Greats” at the top of the High Heats Stats home page.
