This Circle of Greats (COG) vote is not to induct anyone into the Circle, but only to select three players who will be restored back on to the main ballot after having been previously been dropped from eligibility. This sixth “redemption round” (we’ve been holding such redemption votes interspersed among the regular voting rounds every tenth voting round or so) gives voters a chance to reconsider past candidates who have previously fallen off the regular weekly ballot.
In this round you may include on your three-man ballot any major league baseball player who was born between 1915 and 1969 and has neither been elected to the Circle of Greats nor is currently on the 1914 COG ballot. As usual, you must vote for three and only three to cast a qualifying ballot. The three players who appear on the most ballots will be restored to eligibility for the next regular, induction round of COG voting. If your personal favorite doesn’t come in the top three this time, do not despair — he will have other chances in future redemption rounds, which are currently scheduled to be held once after every ten regular induction rounds.
There are many, many players who are eligible for your votes in this redemption round. As an optional aid to your selection process, I’ve put together two spreadsheets, one for pitchers and one for everyday players, that include some stats for a substantial selection of relevant players: Redemption Round 6 Optional Hitter List and Redemption Round 6 Optional Pitcher List. The spreadsheet with everyday players includes the 143 everyday players born between 1915 and 1969 who accumulated at least 36 Wins Above Replacement (baseball-reference version). The list is in order of career regular season plate appearances, from high to low. The pitcher list includes 147 pitchers born between 1915 and 1969 who accumulated at least 25 pitching Wins Above Replacement. That list is ordered by career regular season batters faced, from high to low. Again, these spreadsheets represent entirely discretionary lists — your full options are as stated: all major leaguers born between 1915 and 1969 who have not been inducted into the COG and are not on the 1914 ballot that is also the subject of a vote this week.
The deadline to cast your ballots in this redemption round is Monday night, September 22 at 11:59PM EDT. You can change your votes until 11:59PM EDT on Saturday night, September 20. You can keep track of the vote tally in this redemption round here: COG Redemption Round 6 Vote Tally, which as a starting point includes all the names of players who received votes in the most recent redemption round, except those who no longer need redemption because they won redemption in that most recent round and are on the current 1914 ballot: Roberto Alomar, Kevin Brown and Dennis Eckersley.
