The 87th round of voting for the Circle of Greats inducts Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig, winning election in his debut on the COG ballot. The original Ironman was a near-unanimous selection, appearing on the first 28 ballots cast en route to a final vote share just shy of 90%.
More on Gehrig after the jump.
So much has been said of Gehrig, both the ballplayer and the man, that any cataloging here of his life and accomplishments would be, at once, both superfluous and inadequate. So, I won’t attempt such an encapsulation, and will instead just offer a few statistical observations, and then yield the floor to you.
- Gehrig’s career was, of course, cut short due to the onset of the disease that would tragically claim his life and later bear his name. Nevertheless, Gehrig still surpassed career milestones for 2500 hits, 500 doubles, 1500 walks and 1500 runs, and finished just shy of 500 home runs and 2000 RBI. For careers since 1901 through age 35, Gehrig ranks first in extra-base hits, runs and RBI, top 5 in total bases, walks, OBP, SLG, OPS and OPS+, top 10 in WAR, doubles and BA, and top 20 in Hits, HR and triples.
- Among first basemen, Gehrig’s 112.4 career WAR is tops all-time, as is his 179 OPS+ and its OBP, SLG and OPS components. Gehrig would have a clean sweep of the rate stats for first sackers if not for Bill Terry, whose .341 BA barely edges out Gehrig’s .340 mark.
- Gehrig wore uniform number 4 because the Yankees first employed that innovation in player identification to denote customary batting order position. While that was indeed Gehrig’s usual lineup spot, he batted in other positions in more than one-quarter of his career PAs, with his 72.5% of PAs batting fourth a lower proportion than 18 others with 3000 PAs since 1914 (including his successor as Yankee cleanup hitter, Joe DiMaggio). Which slugger has the highest career ratio of cleanup PAs (min. 3000 career PAs since 1914)?
- Since Gehrig retired, only Ted Williams has posted a career .340 BA. Those two faced each other just once, in Williams’ career debut on opening day of the 1939 season. What were the last NL games with: two career .340 hitters; and two career .340 hitters who played primarily in the NL?
I could go on, but you get the picture. Now, it’s your turn.
O’Doul and Terry, 1933:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BRO/BRO193306060.shtml
And they were teammates 10 days later.
Last appeared in a game together in 1934:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NY1/NY1193409300.shtml
There’s a more recent game for the first part of the question.
There’s also a more recent game for the second part of the question for players opposing each other (or if you want a higher career qualifying standard than O’Doul’s 3658 PA).
Babe Ruth and Bill Terry played together on 4-24-35.
That’s the one.
Jun 26, 1920 – Lou Gehrig gets his first national mention when‚ as a high school junior for New York City’s School of Commerce‚ he steals the show in a high school championship game against Lane Tech in Chicago. His grand-slam HR in the 8th gives the NY team a 12-8 victory. Scouts sit with open mouths as the ball sails out of Cubs Park (later known as Wrigley Field).
Quiz answer: Albert Belle batted 4th in 94.8% of his PA.
Vote update – and introducing a new symbol! As per usual, * indicates an “active” player on the COG ballot; # now indicates a player who belongs on the list, but has fallen off the ballot without being elected (uh… “congratulations” to Richie Ashburn; in the long, long time I’ve been doing these lists, no one over 100 votes has fallen off the ballot until now).
Craig Biggio – 763
Eddie Murray – 731
Roberto Alomar – 725
John Smoltz – 658
Kenny Lofton – 608
Ryne Sandberg – 607
Edgar Martinez – 507
Lou Whitaker – 493
*Harmon Killebrew – 483
Whitey Ford – 382
Bobby Grich – 376
Sandy Koufax – 375
Tony Gwynn – 346
*Kevin Brown – 342
Willie McCovey – 336
Juan Marichal – 268
*Minnie Minoso – 264
*Roy Campanella – 262
Tom Glavine – 262
*Dennis Eckersley – 249
Alan Trammell – 239
*Dave Winfield – 237
Mike Mussina – 233
Curt Schilling – 224
Nolan Ryan – 220
Ron Santo – 217
Lou Boudreau – 216
Tim Raines – 213
Larry Walker – 197
Barry Larkin – 188
Frank Thomas – 181
*Rick Reuschel – 174
*Luis Tiant – 168
Paul Molitor – 152
Bob Gibson – 147
Gaylord Perry – 142
Jim Palmer – 133
Al Kaline – 132
Duke Snider – 130
Joe Gordon – 126
Ernie Banks – 119
#Richie Ashburn – 118
Eddie Mathews – 115
1. The other holdovers: Wes Ferrell (69), Graig Nettles (66), Charlie Gehringer (28), Carl Hubbell (18), Paul Waner (14), Mickey Cochrane (13).
2. Kevin Brown actually passed someone! He hasn’t done so in about 7 or 8 rounds, so it’s worth noting.
3. Dwight Evans (70) will not, for the time being, anyway, make the list, as he falls off the ballot completely. Red Ruffing, who never really gained any momentum here, also falls off the ballot.
4. On the bubble now are the following players: Roy Campanella, Mickey Cochrane, Dennis Eckersley, Minnie Minoso, Wes Ferrell, Graig Nettles, Luis Tiant, Paul Waner, and Dave Winfield.
5. Putting Lou Gehrig’s round in “historical” perspective:
His 89.23% on this ballot is good enough for the 9th highest percentage in COG history. Only Stan Musial (94.12%), George Brett (93.44%), Ted Williams (93.24%), Jackie Robinson (91.78%), Randy Johnson (91.67%), Greg Maddux (90.67%), Mike Schmidt (90.16%), and Joe DiMaggio (89.71%) scored higher.
6. More perspective on Gehrig’s round:
Ted Williams (69), Greg Maddux (68), Jackie Robinson (67), Randy Johnson (66), Stan Musial (64), Cal Ripken (62), Joe DiMaggio (61), and Rickey Henderson (60) achieved more than Gehrig’s 58 votes this past round. Frank Robinson and Willie Mays also received exactly 58 votes in the rounds in which they were elected.
7. In sum, the only players to have a BETTER round than Gehrig (both more votes AND a higher percentage) were Stan Musial, Jackie Robinson, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, and Joe DiMaggio. Considering the competition that Gehrig faced, that’s none to shabby – the 6th best performance in COG history.
Ashburn may be the first over 100 votes to fall off the ballot, but he probably won’t be the last…many long-term holdovers that have not gotten more than ‘survival’ support are now on the bubble because they didn’t build up extra rounds either. During some crowded ballots of underwhelming options, only Killebrew has won any significant rounds of protection.
We may see some cycles of the same borderline guys dropping only to be brought back in the next redemption. It’s no longer a guarantee that a few hundred votes means that you will eventually get in – the newcomers are a lot stronger than they were since around 1930 or so and will be that way for most of the finish. Brown, Minoso and Campanella will be very interesting to watch.
Agree 100%. I think Brown is about in the same category as Killebrew. I don’t think he’s EVER needed final day support, unlike Minoso or Campy or Eck. There are a number of voters (of which I am admittedly one) who continually see him as one of the 3 best players on the ballot. As long as there are 7 or 8 people who believe that, he’ll stick around without pity votes. Rick Reuschel seems to me to be very similar in this regard.
I think more important than total number of votes received is the number of rounds of guaranteed eligibility. I don’t think anyone who has accumulated more than 3 rounds of guaranteed eligibility- with the current exception of the Killer- has failed to get in. If memory serves I think that Edgar Martinez had 3 before he fell off the ballot but of course he was eventually voted back onto the ballot and into the COG.
It’s true that everyone who’s ever gained 3+ rounds of eligibility has ultimately gotten in, with the exception of Killebrew.
In his first go-round on the ballot Edgar Martinez was on the bubble the entire time (he lasted just 8 rounds). After he was redeemed he eventually built up more than 3 rounds of elgibility prior to being elected.
Kevin Brown has also had 3+ years of eligibility in the past. Not sure what his highest level was, but just looking at the 1910, part 1 vote, he had 3 rounds at that point.
So he did! Thanks for the correction.
Gehrig actually lined out to Ted Williams in the first inning of that 1939 Opening Day (April 20th) game:
YANKEES 1ST: Crosetti struck out; Rolfe lined to second; Powell
singled; DiMaggio walked [Powell to second]; GEHRIGED LINED TO
RIGHT; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Red Sox 0, Yankees 0.
Williams was in right field because Joe Vosmick was the Red Sox regular LFer all year (144 G); William played all 149 of his OF games in right that year.
Talking about passing the torch from one great LHH to another!
And Williams got his first major league hit later in that game. It was a double, so he passed by Gehrig literally as well as figuratively.