As I’m a bit of a Hall of Fame fanatic, and there is no shortage of discussion about the BBWAA ballot, but not nearly as much when it comes to the Veterans Committee, I thought I’d take a look at the upcoming Pre-Integration Era Ballot.

The Pre-Integration Committee will consider candidates for the Hall of Fame who made their greatest contributions to the game in the era spanning 1871-1946. This, of course, will include a number of seemingly forgotten 19th century players. Surprisingly, though, it hasn’t been that long since a 19th century player was inducted, as Bid McPhee was so honored in 2000.

The announcement of the voting results is scheduled for December 3, but I haven’t seen anything written about when the candidates will be revealed. I suspect it could come any time now, seeing that the World Series is over and it’s getting to be that awardsy time of year. Predicting and/or sharing my preferences regarding the names that will/should appear on the ballot will be the focus of this post.

We do know there will be 10 names on the ballot. A couple of these will likely be manager/executive/pioneer types, leaving room for probably eight players.

Feel free to discuss the non-players if you like. I’m definitely curious who they might be. I honestly don’t see any legitimate managerial candidates, but I suppose there still are a couple potentially worthy pioneers. Doc Adams is a name I’ve seen suggested a few times, and if I had to guess, I’d say he’ll be up for consideration. I suppose Jacob Ruppert is a possibility too. Who knows? Maybe Abner Doubleday will be a candidate.

Regardless, I’m a little more interested in discussing potential players on the ballot here.

Based on B-R WAR, here are the top candidates among players who will be considered eligible (which, of course, means no Shoeless Joe Jackson or Eddie Cicotte):

1. Jim McCormick – 72.7
2. Bill Dahlen – 70.9
3. Tony Mullane – 61.5
4. Tommy Bond – 60.7
5. Jack Glasscock – 58.8
6. Bobby Mathews – 58.8
7. Bob Caruthers – 58.7
8. Charlie Buffinton – 57.9
9. Wes Ferrell – 57.2
10. Sherry Magee – 55.8
11. Urban Shocker – 54.9
12. Bob Johnson – 52.8
13. Jack Quinn – 52.5
14. Jack Powell – 52.4
15. Bucky Walters – 52.0
16. Wilbur Cooper – 51.8
17. George Uhle – 51.2
18. Stan Hack – 50.7
19. Babe Adams – 50.5
20. Jim Whitney – 50.2

Six of the top eight candidates (all but Dahlen and Glasscock) were 19th century pitchers, whose WAR totals are a little skewed by the way they were used in their era. Plus, since Glasscock played in the 19th century as well, and almost half of Dahlen’s career was in the 1800s, I doubt the ballot will include all eight of the WAR leaders, especially since that period only makes up about 40% of the time frame being considered.

Now, it’s quite possible there are simply more remaining qualified candidates from the 19th century than from the early 20th century. When the Hall of Fame was founded in 1936, many of those players’ careers had been over for 40 years or more. Additionally, there was no Baseball Encyclopedia or Total Baseball, and there certainly wasn’t a baseball-reference.com.

Imagine yourself trying to assess the careers of players from the ’50s and ’60s without the extensive information we have available to us today, or even that we had 15 years ago, before the Internet exploded. Some of you have some first-hand knowledge of that time frame I’m sure, but my baseball fandom started in the ’70s, and I’m no spring chicken.

But, even if the 19th century is a bit under-represented in the Hall—and I’m not saying it is, just that it might be—I don’t think it’s realistic to expect more than half the ballot to consist of players from that era. So, it would make sense to shoot for some balance between those who played primarily in the 19th century and early 20th century players.

But first, let’s consider the order in which these guys rank based on weighted WAR (wWAR).

1. Bill Dahlen
2. Jack Glasscock
3. Tommy Bond
4. Jim McCormick
5. Charlie Buffinton
6. Tony Mullane
7. Bob Caruthers
8. Deacon White
9. Bobby Mathews
10. Babe Adams
11. Sherry Magee
12. Urban Shocker
13. Wes Ferrell
14. Jack Quinn
15. Bob Johnson
16. Silver King
17. Charlie Bennett
18. Wilbur Cooper

Of course, wWAR tells a slightly different story, adding Deacon White, Silver King and Charlie Bennett to the list of candidates (and considering all of them above the Hall of Fame threshold), while rating Whitney, Hack, Uhle, Walters and Powell as not-quite worthy of the honor.

I also sifted through the voting results dating back to 1936 to see what candidates came the closest without being elected. This exercise revealed some interesting names, a couple of whom were on the borderline between the Pre-Integration and Golden eras: Hank Gowdy, Johnny Vander Meer, Mel Harder, Marty Marion, Allie Reynolds, Bucky Walters, Tommy Henrich, Phil Cavaretta. But, none of them really jumped out at me as names that had to be on the ballot.

Basically, this led me to decide I really have no clue how to predict the potential ballot, but I certainly have a pretty good idea who I want to be there.

So, here are my six picks: three pitchers and three position players (one infielder, one outfielder and one who caught a good portion of his career), whose careers span almost the entire era (1871-1941) with no more than two of them active in any given year.

Deacon White (3B/C, 1871-1890)
White doesn’t make the WAR list, but he ranks highly based on wWAR because his career began in 1871, so he played 13 years before 100-game seasons became the norm. In those 13 years, he played 815 games, an average of 63 per, so not even half a season by current standards. His 162-game averages over a career that spanned 20 years: 118 R, 215 H, 103 RBI, .312/.346/.396 (127 OPS+). That’s right, he averaged 215 hits per 162 games. Let’s compare that to the all-time hits leaders: Pete Rose – 194, Ty Cobb – 224, Hank Aaron – 185, Stan Musial – 194, Tris Speaker – 204, Cap Anson – 220. I can’t speak for you, but I know I’m impressed.

Bob Caruthers (P/OF, 1884-1893)
His career was a little on the short side (technically 10 seasons, although only eight as a full-timer), but how can you argue with a 122 ERA+ over 2829 innings and a 134 OPS+ over 2906 plate appearances? I suspect he was overlooked because you really have to consider both his contributions as a pitcher and a batter to consider him Hall of Fame worthy.

Bill Dahlen (SS, 1891-1911)
It’s pretty clear from the sources I’ve looked at Dahlen is one of the top potential candidates. While I’m a huge fan of his candidacy, looking at his statistics at face value, I’m not surprised he’s been passed over all these years. He fell short of 2500 hits, had only a .272 career batting average, and even his OPS+ of 110 is not eye-popping. Of course, a lot of his value comes from having been an excellent defensive shortstop (by metrics and reputation) and providing good offense from a defense-first position. Consider him the Alan Trammell of the turn of the century, except Dahlen was probably even better defensively.

Sherry Magee (OF, 1904-1919)
Here’s an old school argument for you: According to his SABR BioProject entry, Magee is the only non-Hall of Famer to lead the league in RBI four times. {Everyone rushes to check Joe Carter’s baseball-reference page. Nope, he only led the league once, although he did drive in 100 ten times, which is tied with Rafael Palmeiro for the most among eligible non-Hall of Famers.} Magee, however, was no Joe Carter, as his career OPS+ of 136 ranks above the Hall of Fame median.

Urban Shocker (P, 1916-1928)
I’m a Yankees fan with a fascination for everything St. Louis Browns related–don’t ask–so of course Shocker is my guy. But, to say he’s worthy of Hall of Fame consideration is not based on blind admiration of a guy who died the year my father was born. 10 of Shocker’s contemporaries are in the Hall: Walter Johnson, Pete Alexander, Ted Lyons, Dazzy Vance, Red Faber, Stan Coveleski, Eppa Rixey, Waite Hoyt, Burleigh Grimes, and Herb Pennock. Only Johnson, Alexander, Vance, Lyons, Coveleski and Faber belong over Shocker, meaning he falls just below the Hall of Fame median among pitchers whose careers overlapped his by at least five years.

Wes Ferrell (P, 1927-1941)
Is the fact he was better than his Hall of Fame brother enough of an argument? Probably not, but if you haven’t considered how sick his peak was, you really should take a look at his numbers from 1929-1936, which include six 20-win seasons prior to his 29th birthday. That’s an accomplishment usually reserved for the likes of Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson. Like Caruthers, his status as one of, if not the, greatest hitting pitchers of all-time is a boost to his case that I’m sure many overlook.