In one of the closest and latest-decided elections in Circle of Greats history, Joe Gordon just edged out his contemporary Lou Boudreau, and slugger Harmon Killebrew as well, each by a single vote. Gordon becomes, just barely, the 77th inductee into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats.  More on “Flash” Gordon, and the voting, after the jump.

Highest Wins Above Replacement (“WAR”, baseball-reference version) by a Second Basemen, Over the First 10 Years of a Major League Career:

1. Rogers Hornsby 75.8
2. Eddie Collins 64.3
3. Jackie Robinson 61.3
4. Joe Gordon 55.1
5. Chase Utley 54.7

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Rbat represents he number of runs Baseball-reference estimates a player produced as a batter over his career, above what would have been produced by an average hitter in the same league and home park context. Rfield represents the same concept except for fielding instead of hitting. Joe Gordon finished his too-brief MLB career with 150 Rbat and 150 Rfield. The only other major leaguers to complete their careers with totals of 150 or more in both Rbat and Rfield have been: Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Carl Yastrzemski, Cal Ripken, Roberto Clemente, Al Kaline and Scott Rolen.

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Teams Whose Regular Starting Second Baseman and Regular Starting Shortstop Both Had a Season WAR of 6.5 or More:
1949 Dodgers, Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese
1948 Indians, Joe Gordon and Lou Boudreau
1947 Indians, Joe Gordon and Lou Boudreau
1906 Indians, Napoleon Lajoie and Terry Turner

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Most World Series Championship-Clinching Games Started at Second Base:
5, by Joe Gordon and Tony Lazzeri
4, by Eddie Collins
3, by Johnny Evers, Billy Martin, Chuck Knoblauch, Frankie Frisch, Dick Green and Jerry Coleman

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Fewest Major League Seasons by a Position Player Who Accumulated More than 50 WAR Over His Career:
10 seasons, by Jackie Robinson
11 seasons, by Joe Gordon
12 seasons, by Kirby Puckett
13 seasons, by Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg, Mickey Cochrane, Bob Johnson, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Home Run Baker and Elmer Flick

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Notes on this round’s voting:
–Roberto Alomar appeared on more than 31% of the ballots cast this round. The one and only previous time Alomar had topped the 30% support level was Round 2 of the Circle of Greats voting, 75 rounds ago.

–Dennis Eckersley had never appeared on more than 12 ballots in any round; this round he appeared on 19 ballots.

–Gordon won with 25 votes. His previous high, over his seven other rounds of eligibility had been 19 votes (in his first round of eligibility). Lou Boudreau fell a vote short of Gordon’s winning total this round, but his 24-vote total was also his best showing yet, topping his previous high of 20, which he had received in the round immediately before this one.

–The number of candidates “on the bubble”, at immediate risk of losing eligibility for the ballot should they fall below the 10% support level, is down from six to five, as Eckersley’s support was enough for him to grab a spare round of eligibility.

–The number of holdovers in total is going down to 13 from 14, as Gordon is inducted and Schoolboy Rowe, the only ballot newcomer to receive votes, garnered a number to which even the youngest schoolboy can count, a mere two.

–Exactly 70 ballots were cast in total this round, same as the last round. The ballot total has been exactly 70 in three of the last four rounds, and four of the last six.

–Joe Gordon did not have the sole lead in this round at any point until commenter bells, at comment 198, after 61 of the 70 votes had been cast, switched one of his votes from Reuschel to Gordon. With the vote count in the low 50s, Gordon was trailing Boudreau by as many as five votes and seemed a very unlikely candidate for induction this round.

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The full spreadsheet showing this round’s vote tally is here: COG 1910 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.

Another COG data spreadsheet showing each season a COG member played in the majors, along with the team he played for that season and his baseball-reference WAR (overall WAR for everyday players, pitching WAR for pitchers) for the season, is here:
Circle of Greats Seasons