Robin Yount becomes the 16th member of the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats, appearing on an impressive 73% of the ballots, far ahead of anyone else. More on Robin and the voting after the (caped crusader-like) jump.
Yount, like Dick Grayson, was a player in the big show at an extremely early age. The Brewers’ greatest star was rarely out of the lineup thereafter until his retirement at the relatively early age (for a COG-level player) of 37. One result of that unusual career arc is Yount’s near-omnipresence in a a table showing the most career MLB games played through each age level, except for the last few levels (make sure to expand the table to see the full list):
[table id=106 /]
**********************************************************
Although Yount was a strong favorite choice of the voters this round, his teammate for 15 seasons, Paul Molitor, finished a solid second with appearances on over 40% of the ballots. Yount and Molitor each put together a unique career (Yount as a shortstop/center fielder and Molly as an infielder/DH), and each was originally a #3 overall pick in the amateur baseball draft, each selected by Milwaukee. Though the Brewers franchise has never won a World Series, Yount and Molitor each had huge (and very similar) hitting numbers in their World Series appearances: Yount’s career World Series slash line is .414 BA/.452 OBP/.621 SLG/1.072 OPS and Molitor’s is .418 BA/.475 OBP/.636 SLG/1.112 OPS.
Most Career Wins Above Replacement (“WAR”) (Baseball-Reference version) By A #3 Overall Pick in the Baseball Amateur Draft:
[table id=107 /]
Next behind Yount and Molitor in the voting this round, Tony Gwynn and John Smoltz also received substantial support. Ryne Sandberg, on the other hand, did not, and he will be sitting “on the bubble” in the next round of balloting, at risk of falling out of eligibility if he fails to receive at least 10% support in the 1954 round.
After receiving identical levels of support the last few rounds, a bit of daylight appeared between the Tiger buddies Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, as Whitaker, but not Trammell, topped the 25% vote threshold that earns a two-round eligibility extension.
As always, you can review the complete voting record for this past round at Google Docs. The link is here: 1955- Part 2 COG Vote Tally
If you would like to review the history of the COG voting, a spreadsheet summary of the voting is here: COG Vote Summary , with a summary of the raw vote totals on Sheet 1 and a summary of the percentage totals on Sheet 2.
The Circle of Greats membership thus far:
Jeff Bagwell
Wade Boggs
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Tom Glavine
Rickey Henderson
Randy Johnson
Barry Larkin
Greg Maddux
Mike Mussina
Mike Piazza
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Curt Schilling
Frank Thomas
Larry Walker
Robin Yount
