COG Round 65 Results: Jack Be Nimble, and Quick Into the Circle

The most important single figure in American sports history was also one of the greatest ever at playing the game of baseball. “Faster than you can say Jack Robinson” (a phrase dating back to the 18th century), Jackie Robinson becomes the 65th inductee into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats. More on Robinson and the voting, after the jump.

Most (Non-Pitching) Wins Above Replacement (“WAR”, Baseball-Reference Version) Over the First Seven Seasons of a Major League Career:
1. Ted Williams 63.4
2. Albert Pujols 54.7
3. Mickey Mantle 52.2
4. Wade Boggs 51.5
5. Willie Mays 50.9
6. Jackie Robinson 50.7
7. Barry Bonds 50.1
8. Joe DiMaggio 48.7
9. Stan Musial 48.4
10. Arky Vaughan 48.0

Jackie Robinson played second base for only five seasons, but nevertheless the four top WAR seasons by a second baseman over the last 85 years (1930-2014) have been:

Joe Morgan (1975), 10.9
Jackie Robinson (1951), 9.7
Joe Morgan (1976) and Jackie Robinson (1949), 9.6 each

Robinson moved to left field for 1953 and 1954, his age 34 and 35 seasons. Among all National Leaguers who played at least 50% of their games in left over those two seasons, the WAR leaders were:

1. Jackie Robinson 10.6
2. Monte Irvin 7.3
3. Ralph Kiner 5.7
4. Sid Gordon 4.9
5. Jim Greengrass 4.1

Robinson retired after the 1956 season, his age 37 season. Here are the best final seasons by a non-pitcher, in terms of WAR, by an MLB player whose career ended voluntarily (i.e., not because he died and not because he was banned from the league):

1. Jackie Robinson 4.5
T2. Roy Cullenbine and Bill Joyce 4.3
4. Will Clark 4.0

Jackie started in the majors as a star, left as a star, and was a star throughout, at positions all over the diamond. Jackie, Pete Rose and Gregg Jefferies are the only men to play at least 150 career games at first base, and second base, and third base and in the outfield — but unlike Rose and Jefferies, who were below-average defensive infielders, Jackie was above average defensively at all four positions, according to Baseball-Reference’s Total Zone numbers.

Although 282 men have played in more National League regular season games than Jackie since the World Series began, only five men have played in more World Series games as a National Leaguer.

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Notes on this round’s voting:

–73 ballots were cast this round, the most since our eleventh round of balloting, 54 rounds ago.

–Jackie appeared on 67 ballots. Only Greg Maddux, all the way back in Round 3, has received more votes in a single round.

–On the other end of the ballot, the two relief pitcher holdovers, Hoyt Wilhelm and Dennis Eckersley, were separated by only one vote, but that one made all the difference. Wilhelm appeared on seven ballots, just below the 10% threshold, and thus falls off the ballot going forward, while Eckersley appeared on eight ballots, just enough to remain on the ballot for another round at least. Wilhelm supporters will need to try to get him back on the ballot via future redemption rounds.

–A push by some voters to get Ryne Sandberg up to the 25% level, which would give him an extra round of eligibility to add to his current three, fell just short.

–With Jackie elected in his first appearance on the ballot, no one other newcomer making an impact, and Wilhelm falling off the ballot the holdover list will drop from 13 this round to 12 next round.

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The full spreadsheet showing this round’s vote tally is here: COG 1919 Part 2 Vote Tally.

The vote summary for recent Circle of Greats voting rounds is here: COG Vote Summary 2 .  An archive with details of the 1968 through 1939 rounds is here: COG 1968-1939 Vote Summary .  In both cases, raw vote totals for each past round appear on Sheet 1 and the percentage totals for each past round appear on Sheet 2.

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A spreadsheet listing the full membership to date of the Circle of Greats, along with some of their stats, is here: Circle of Greats Membership . You can also find that same link any time by clicking on “Circle of Greats” at the top of the High Heats Stats home page.

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Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
9 years ago

So, looks like there will be exactly one relief pitcher in the COG.

bells
bells
9 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

I was starting to come around to Hoyt. There’s always the Redemption Round…

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
9 years ago
Reply to  bells

For relief pitchers there is Mariano and Hoyt and nobody else. Frankly it is unfair to every other reliever that they have to be compared to Rivera. He is Babe Ruth. But so is Wilhelm. Relief pitcher WAR through 1972 (Hoyt’s final season) Pitchers with at least 80% of games in relief: 50.1 … Wilhelm 27.3 … Stu Miller 24.7 … Lindy McDaniel (28.7 total) 21.3 … Roy Face 21.1 … Don McMahon (22.7) 19.0 … Ron Perranoski 17.5 … Ted Wilks 17.1 … Al Worthington 16.9 … Dick Hall 16.7 … Bob Miller (17.9) 16.7 … Ted Abernathy 16.1… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
9 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Just for comparison, you could say that

Cy Young
Walter Johnson and
Roger Clemens

were the starter’s equivalent of Mo, Hoyt, and Goose.

170.3
152.3
139.4

56.6
50.1
41.8

Though the drop-off isn’t as severe after that.
10th place is Knucksie at 97.4

The equivalent gap to Wilhelm-Tekulve would be
Walter Johnson to Curt Schilling (80.7, in 26th place)

Steven
Steven
9 years ago

I suspected my support for Johnny Wyrostek wouldn’t be enough.

Mike HBC
Mike HBC
9 years ago

The Splinter, Rapid Robert, and Pee Wee.

Mike HBC
Mike HBC
9 years ago
Reply to  Mike HBC

FOR THE SECOND TIME, I opened both articles, then voted in the wrong one. Great job, me. Greeeeeeeeeat job.

David Horwich
David Horwich
9 years ago

A few other notes on the voting: In addition to recording the 2nd highest number of votes to date, Robinson also had the 2nd-greatest margin of victory; here are the top 5: Musial +50 (over McCovey) J Robinson + 49 (Sandberg) R Johnson +45 (Schilling) Schmidt +42 (Smoltz) Spahn +40 (McCovey) Robinson had the 3rd highest percentage of votes to date; here’s everyone who’s reached 90% or more: Musial 94.1% Brett 93.4% J Robinson 91.7% R Johnson 91.6% Maddux 90.6% Schmidt 90.1% I know there are those who would like to see the elite talents garner 100% of the vote,… Read more »

mosc
mosc
9 years ago
Reply to  David Horwich

I remember thinking how odd it was that it took Santo that long since he was such a clear choice to most of us but those ballots were all so stacked in those years. Maybe we should be a little less hard on the BBWAA on not getting around to him. Still, you would have liked to see him get in before his death.

oneblankspace
oneblankspace
9 years ago

Pity he never got to play in Candlestick.