http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067128/

Voters got Carter, Gary Carter, as the 17th inductee into the Circle of Greats.  It is sad indeed that Gary is the first of our inductees to be voted in posthumously.  More on Carter and the voting after the jump.

According to Baseball-Reference.com’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) stat, Gary Carter’s 10 year run of seasons from 1977 through 1986 was the most valuable sequence of 10 consecutive seasons by a catcher in the history of major league baseball.  Here are the top 10-consecutive-year runs by catchers by total WAR, according to B-Ref’s Play Index:

Gary Carter, 1977-86, 60.7 WAR
Johnny Bench, 1968-77, 60.0 WAR
Johnny Bench, 1969-78, 59.5 WAR
Johnny Bench, 1970-79, 59.0 WAR
Gary Carter, 1976-85, 58.5 WAR
Gary Carter, 1978-87, 56.4 WAR
Johnny Bench, 1971-80, 54.8 WAR
Johnny Bench, 1967-76, 54.5 WAR
Mike Piazza, 1993-2002, 53.8 WAR
Johnny Bench, 1972-83, 51.8 WAR
Mike Piazza, 1992-2001, 51.0 WAR
Ivan Rodriguez, 1995-2004, 50.5 WAR

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This was a strong round for the newcomer group born in 1954.  In addition to Carter’s solid, never-in-doubt victory, Ozzie Smith also received strong support in his first appearance on the ballot, Dennis Eckersley received enough support to remain on the ballot, and Andre Dawson also survived to the next round thanks the last vote cast, though Willie Randolph fell a vote short.  Personally, I’m still peeved that Willie isn’t managing the Mets.

Among the holdovers, Tony Gwynn continues to get solid support and Paul Molitor also reached the 25% vote threshold, again thanks to that final vote cast before last night’s deadline.  Ryne Sandberg needed at least 10% of the vote to avoid getting bounced from the ballot — he got what he needed but remains on the bubble next round, now joined by Roberto Alomar as well as Eckersley and Dawson.  Many candidates in peril next round.

As always, you can review the complete voting record for this past round at Google Docs. The link is here: 1954 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
Gary Carter
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