John Smoltz started here at the Circle of Greats voting by appearing on exactly 50% of the ballots in his very first round (which was also just the second round of COG voting as a whole). Then, for the next 57 (!) rounds, John never appeared on nearly that high a percentage of the ballots again. Until, that is, he received a stunning level of very late support in the 1924 round of voting to tie Duke Snider, and closed things out with a 50.8% showing in a runoff against the Duke, making Smoltz the 58th inductee into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats. More on John and the voting after the jump

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Career W-L Record and ERA as Post-Season Starter for NL Teams, By Pitchers With Most Post-Season Starts for NL Teams:

Tom Glavine (35 starts) 14 Wins, 16 Losses, 3.30 ERA
Greg Maddux (30 Starts) 11 Wins, 14 Losses, 3.36 ERA
John Smoltz (27 Starts) 13 Wins, 4 Losses, 2.55 ERA
Chris Carpenter (18 Starts) 10 Wins, 4 Losses, 3.00 ERA
Steve Carlton (14 Starts) 6 Wins, 6 Losses, 3.12 ERA

Think Smoltzie’s extremely favorable W-L record in his post-season starts is a function of frequently pitching in the third game of post-season series, against less exalted opposing starters than Maddux and Glavine had to face? Think again: Smoltz was 5-0 in six Game One starts, compared to Maddux’s 3-6 (in 11 Game One starts) and Glavine’s 2-2 (in 5 Game One starts). Smoltz was 1-0 in three Game 2 starts, for a combined 6-0 in 14 Game One and Game Two starts, compared to Maddux’s 6-7 in 15 Game One and Game 2 starts and Glavine’s 8-5 in 16 Game One and Game Two starts. Smoltz actually started fewer Game Threes (5) than Glavine (8) or Maddux (6).

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Smoltz joins long-time staff-mates Maddux and Glavine in the Circle of Greats. Maddux and Glavine will be inducted into the Hall of Fame together this summer. If Smoltz eventually joins them, they will join this group:

Pitching Staffs with Most Future Hall of Famers Pitching 162 or More Innings:

Athletics, each season from 1903 through 1907: Chief Bender, Eddie Plank and Rube Waddell
Indians, each season from 1949 through 1953: Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Early Wynn
Yankees, 1931: Lefty Gomez, Herb Pennock and Red Ruffing
Dodgers, 1966: Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Don Sutton

Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz all pitched 162 innings or more in 1993, and 1995 through 1999.

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Here are the only pitchers in MLB history with at least 75 career regular season Saves and at least 75 regular season career hits as batters:

John Smoltz 157 Saves, 151 hits
Firpo Marberry 99 Saves, 128 hits
Ron Reed 103 Saves, 98 hits
Dave Giusti 145 Saves, 77 hits

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Notes on the 1924 round of voting:

–The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) voters have, thus far, elected 115 players to the Hall of Fame. The ultimate goal of the COG is to catch up to the BBWAA’s number. With John Smoltz being the 58th player we’ve inducted, we’re half way there.

–In his 43 rounds on the ballot before this one, Edgar Martinez had never appeared on more than 17 ballots. This round he appeared on 22 ballots. Kenny Lofton also had his best round yet, appearing on 17 ballots, one more than his previous high, which he had just achieved in the last round.

–Lofton and Martinez, former redemption-based returnees, are now accumulating solid levels of protection from future banishment to redemption-land. Kenny is now up to three rounds of assured eligibility and Edgar is up to four such rounds.

–Smoltz is inducted after having appeared on a total of 658 voter ballots (not counting the just-completed runoff), by far the most to date. Craig Biggio becomes the leader in total ballot appearances (569) among those still accumulating votes.

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The full spreadsheet showing this round’s vote tally is here: COG 1924 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.