After appearing on around 40% of the ballots submitted in each of his first four rounds of eligibility, a level that had not been quite high enough to earn induction, Gaylord Perry broke though this time, appearing on over 50% of the ballots, solidly ahead of Ron Santo, who finished second in the voting.  Perry becomes the 42nd player inducted into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats.  More on Gaylord and the voting after the jump. Continue reading →

Most Homers In a Season By a Hall of Famer:
60, by Babe Ruth (1927)
59, by Babe Ruth (1921)
58, by Hank Greenberg (1938) and Jimmie Foxx (1932)
56, by Hack Wilson (1930)
54, by Mickey Mantle (1961), Ralph Kiner (1949) and Babe Ruth (1920 and 1928)
52, by Willie Mays (1965) and Mickey Mantle (1956)

Those top two Ruth seasons are eighth and ninth on the full most-homers-in-a-season list.  Bonds, Maris, two McGwire seasons and three Sosa seasons are ahead of the Babe.

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This post is for voting and discussion in the 42nd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats.  This round adds to the ballot those players born in 1936.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

Brooks Robinson’s supporters fielded all concerns, defended their man, and gave Brooks enough votes to allow him to scoop up the designation as the 41st inductee in to the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats.  More on Robinson and the voting after you cleanly handle the jump. Continue reading →

Announcement of the results of the Hall of Fame voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America is scheduled for this Wednesday, January 8.  About 20% of the votes that will likely be cast by the writers have already been publicly disclosed.  A running tally via Google spreadsheet (much like the Circle of Greats spreadsheets that we use here at HHS) is available that is recording all those publicly available ballots as they come in: Hall of Fame Publicly Available Ballots Spreadsheet . The spreadsheet shows, among other things, that Maddux has appeared on every one of the publicly disclosed ballots so far.  Somewhat to my surprise, Glavine is doing almost as well on these ballots as Maddux.  Frank Thomas also looks like a sure thing, based on this group of ballots.  In short, it looks like a bunch of Circle of Greats inductees are on their way to Cooperstown induction, which is nice thing for them, albeit a less prestigious honor than the Circle. Continue reading →

It’s not a particularly well-known record, but Lou Gehrig’s 14 home runs against the Cleveland Indians in 1936 is the most by a major leaguer against one opposing team during a regular season.  Baseball-reference’s Play Index (PI) shows only four times that a player has managed 13 homers in a regular season against one team: Jimmie Foxx against the Tigers in 1932, Hank Sauer against the Pirates in 1954, Joe Adcock against the Dodgers in 1956 and Roger Maris against the White Sox in his historic 1961 season.

Using the PI, I also found 13 seasons in which a player hit 12 homers against one opposing team, so that’s a total of 18 seasons in which a hitter slugged 12 or more home runs off of one team.  A table listing all 18 of those seasons is after the jump.  For each season, the table shows the year, the hitter, the opponent, and the number of homers, games played and plate appearances the player had against that opponent during that season. Continue reading →

This post is for voting and discussion in the 41st round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG).  This round completes the addition of those players born in 1937.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

If Cy Young is the eponymous epitome of pitching primacy, then surely Mariano Rivera is the equivalent role model of relief royalty.  Mo ultimately triumphed in a thrilling three-way battle among memorable hurlers, and becomes the 40th inductee into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats.  More on Mariano and the voting after the jump.   Continue reading →

This post is for voting and discussion in the 40th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG).  This round begins to add those players born in 1937.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

It was billed as a battle of the titans between two players who just turned old enough to join the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats (COG), Ken Griffey, Jr. and Mariano Rivera.  But Griffey proved strongest from early in the voting and becomes the 39th inductee in the COG.  More on Junior, and the voting, is available for you, but only if you prove that you want to read the rest of this entry by, well, clicking on “Read the rest of this entry”. Continue reading →