23 thoughts on “Atlanta Braves Mount Rushmore Runoff Election”

1. John Autin December 18, 2014 at 3:16 pm

   I chose Maddux — not on stats, but just for narrative balance. A Bravos Rushmore of Aaron & Spahn, Chipper & Maddux would have the best position player and best pitcher from each of the team’s best eras.

   Mathews may be more deserving in a purely head-to-head comparison. He owns 8 of the team’s 36 modern 7-WAR seasons; Aaron had 13, and Chipper’s three ranks third. It won’t seem right to “carve” Chipper and not Mathews. And comparing Maddux’s 11 Braves years against Mathews’s best 11-year run, both ranked 3rd in MLB WAR, trailing only icons (Willie & Mickey, Unit & Pedro). Damned hard to put Maddux *above* Mathews on value.

   But having three from the ’50s edition, versus just one from the ’90s (and no pitcher), wouldn’t seem right, either. Anyway, loving baseball means you never have to say you’re sorry for picking Greg Maddux. 🙂

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   1. Hartvig December 18, 2014 at 8:58 pm

      What he said☝☝☝☝

      (just to be clear, that finger sticking up is the INDEX finger…)

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      1. Hartvig December 18, 2014 at 9:00 pm

         Geez, I just cast my vote and saw the current results.

         23 votes for Maddux & 23 votes for Mathews

         How do you have a runoff election for a runoff election?

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2. Voomo Zanzibar December 18, 2014 at 3:39 pm

   I vote to remove Chipper and elect Kid Nichols.
   _____

   Alright alright…
   Between 1955 and 1962,
   when Mathews did most of his damage at the plate, he primarily batted 3rd.

   The guy who batted 4th we’ve already elected.

   I vote Maddux.
   _____

   Mathews batting 3rd, by year.

   Aaron batting 4th, by year.

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   1. Voomo Zanzibar December 18, 2014 at 3:43 pm

      Those links don’t work. They were’ perma-links for Aaron and Mathews’ yearly batting orders. Dunno wha’happened.

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      1. John Autin December 18, 2014 at 4:01 pm

         Voomo, I fixed your links. Seems that they wrapped across two lines in a text browser, and the link was assigned only to the pre-wrap text. I hope I read your intentions correctly.

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         1. Voomo Zanzibar December 18, 2014 at 4:14 pm

            Excellent. Thank you.

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3. dr. remulak December 18, 2014 at 4:38 pm

   Matthews. Maddux spent too many seasons in other uniforms.

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   1. oneblankspace December 19, 2014 at 6:34 pm

      Maddux was a Brave for 50.45% of his career IP.
      Mathews was a Brave for 94.38% of his career IP.

      Maddux played for the Chicago Cubs, the Atlanta Braves, and the Chicago Cubs.
      Mathews played for the Boston Braves, the Milwaukee Braves, and the Atlanta Braves.

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      1. oneblankspace December 19, 2014 at 6:35 pm

         Mathews was a Brave for 94.38% of his career PA. He was not a pitcher. D’oh!

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4. BillH December 18, 2014 at 7:05 pm

   Matthews. Maddux is part Cub, part Brave.

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5. Steven December 18, 2014 at 9:31 pm

   Voted for Mathews.

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6. John December 18, 2014 at 10:37 pm

   Tried to cast 1/2 vote for Matthews, and 1/2 vote for Maddux. Didn’t work. So I asked my wife, the Braves fan She said Maddux. I said I wanted to vote for a 2-headed monster, Matthux. She said Maddux. So I voted for Maddux. Check the results. A perfect 24-24 split. I don’t envy you guys one bit!

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7. PaulE December 18, 2014 at 11:42 pm

   Mathews.
   If Maddux had retired in 1968with the same great record, I don’t believe he would have been considered the superior of Walter Johnson, Alexander, or Mathewson, or even Cy Young. However, Mathews was greater than all 3b untilSchmidt came along. Mathews’ superior positional ranking wins out for me. Plus, Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta….and, Maddux came through the Cubs chain

   and, he was better than Chipper, too 🙁

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   1. bells December 19, 2014 at 11:35 am

      I think it’s a bit inaccurate to present a ‘positional’ comparison between a 3B and a pitcher as an apples to apples kind of thing; there are many more pitchers in baseball than third baseman. Perhaps it’d be more appropriate to ask how Mathews compares to other infielders before him, if you really want comparable numbers, although that is unsatisfying for other reasons.

      Either way, I didn’t vote for either of these guys the first time around, as I voted for the top 3 and Kid Nichols. But I felt less bad about not voting for Maddux, just due to the amount of time and value he gave to the Cubs as well. I mean, Maddux is literally the first guy I thought of when the ‘Mount Rushmore of the Braves’ topic was posted, and that should count for something, but I’m going to go with sober second (third, fourth, I’ve lost count by now) thought and vote Mathews.

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      1. Paul E December 19, 2014 at 7:47 pm

         bells:
         Good point on the positional comparison. For the sake of brevity, I used BR WAR from 1893 forward:
         If we compare Maddux to all RH pitchers, his career WAR of 104.6 places him 6th through 2014; however, he’d be 4th through 1969. If we compare him to all pitchers, through 1969 he’s 5th, and 7th through 2014
         Mathews, when compared to all infielders, places 10th through 2014 and 6th through 1969 in WAR. Mathews doesn’t suffer too badly here.
         Hey, I could have voted for Rico Carty
         An interesting item: Pedro Martinez accumulated approximately 83% of the WAR Maddux did in less than 57% of IP. Hopefully, Pedro makes Cooperstown on the next go around.

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8. PP December 19, 2014 at 7:11 am

   Maddux over Chipper for sure. But much as I hate to do it, it’s Eddie Lee over Maddux. Tough decision though.

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   1. PP December 19, 2014 at 12:51 pm

      Of course Jones will probably be a 1st ballot HOFer in 2020 (?) while it took Mathews 5 tries to get in. No respect for Eddie except from advanced stats: JAWS has him the #2 3B.

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9. brp December 19, 2014 at 10:28 am

   Can we kick out Chipper and put these two in instead?

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10. Mike HBC December 19, 2014 at 1:57 pm

    Well, Greg Maddux is my favorite baseball player ever, so… yeah.

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11. oneblankspace December 20, 2014 at 9:20 am

    Mathews 41, Maddux 40 through 81 votes.

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12. Steve December 23, 2014 at 7:21 am

    Eddie Mathews – Eddie should have made it over chipper

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13. Doug Post authorDecember 23, 2014 at 2:49 pm

    Eddie Mathews takes the final position on the Braves’ Mount Rushmore.

    Thanks everyone for voting.

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