Since the Circle of Greats was first proposed, with its birth-year based voting, followers of the process have been watching for the 1931 voting, with its extraordinary collection of birth-year talent. Sure enough, the 1931 voting has now graced the COG with two of the true all-time finest performers in the sport: Mickey Mantle from last week’s vote and Willie Mays from this week’s. More on Willie and the voting, after the jump. Continue reading →

Hal W. Smith was born in 1930 and was a starting catcher in 648 major league regular season games, in a career running from 1955 to 1964.  In 1960, Hal W., playing for the Pirates against the Yankees, hit a Game 7, eighth inning, come-from-behind, three-run homer that might have been remembered as one of the most important hits in World Series history, if it hadn’t been followed an inning later by his teammate Bill Mazeroski’s Series-ending walk-off home run.  Hal W. had originally been signed by the Yankees, but they’d traded him away after the 1954 season, as part of the huge, multi-player deal that brought Don Larsen, among others, to New York. Continue reading →

The latest new toy from Baseball-Reference’s Play Index is the ability to condition a search to include only World Series-winning, or pennant-winning, or post-season-participating, teams.  After the jump, a first shot at a very simple search with the new capability.  Continue reading →

This post is for voting and discussion in the 49th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG).  This round completes the addition of players born in 1931.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

After the jump is a list of the eight guys who started the most games for the Yankees at each of the eight fielding positions for the Yankees in 2013: Continue reading →

Henry Aaron won the voting this round by a significant margin, despite competing against several other great stars. Sort of the way he took over the career home run title with his steadily great performance from the 1950s through the 1970s, passing by other renowned stars of his era.  Hank becomes the 44th player inducted into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats.  More on Aaron and the voting after the jump. Continue reading →

This post is for voting and discussion in the 44th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG).  This round begins to add those players born in 1934.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

Frank Robinson faced powerful competition from two fellow-newcomers to the ballot with strong historical reputations, Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax.  But Robinson received heavy support from voters and led pretty much throughout the balloting.  He appeared on 58 ballots, the most since Rickey Henderson received 60 votes thirty-one rounds ago.  Frank becomes the 43rd player inducted into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats.   More on Robinson and the voting after the jump. Continue reading →

One thing that the Yankees will not experience as a result of of Alex Rodriguez’s suspension for the full 2014 season: a dramatic drop in A-Rod’s games played at third base as compared to 2013.  Alex only played in 27 games at third last season.  Indeed, the guy who played the most games at third for the Yanks this past season was Jayson Nix, who himself appeared at third in only 41 games for the Yankees (Nix recently agreed on a minor league deal with Tampa for 2014).

It is extremely rare for a major league team to go a full season with no one player playing at least 42 games for them at third base. Before the 2013 Yankees, only five other teams have done that since 1901.  After the jump, a look at those teams. Continue reading →

This post is for voting and discussion in the 43nd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats.  This round adds to the ballot those players born in 1935.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →