Friday, September 21, 2012

RIP - Jack Kralick


Former Twins' and Indians' pitcher Jack Kralick passed away in Mexico on September 18th, at age 77.


In 1961, Kralick moved to Minnesota with the rest of the 1960 Senators, and pitched the first no-hitter in Twins' history on August 26, 1962. (He lost a perfect game with 1 out in the 9th inning.)

In 1963 Jack was traded to the Indians for Jim Perry.  Kralick was traded to the Mets in May 1967 but did not play for the remainder of the season due to being in a car accident.  He retired before the 1968 season.


Obituary

and an appreciation from the DC Baseball blog


Saturday, September 15, 2012

RIP - Bruce Von Hoff


Former major-league pitcher Bruce Von Hoff passed away at his home in Florida on September 11, 2012 at age 68.


Von Hoff pitched 13 games in the majors, including 10 starts with the 1967 Astros. He pitched in the minors from 1964-70.

Obituary here

Saturday, September 1, 2012

1960s Blog Hall of Fame Results (#2)

The balloting for the 1960s Hall of Fame closed yesterday, and three players have been elected: Mickey Mantle, Frank Robinson, and Ernie Banks.


They join the 16 elected in the first class:


26 ballots were cast, with Mantle and Robinson each named on 23 ballots (88%), while Banks received 21 votes (81%). Richie Allen hovered around 75% for most of the time, but finished up with 65%.

It was a complete shock to me that the Mick wasn’t named on 100% of the ballots. I also thought that Whitey Ford and Warren Spahn (both first-timers) would be shoo-ins, although not with 100%. Spahn finished with 13 votes (50%) and Ford tallied 12 votes (46%).

I was surprised that Allen got so many votes early-on.  He was one of my favorite players back in the day, but given his MLB HOF snub and his surly past, I figured his popularity was confined to Philadelphia and Chicago fans only.  I also thought that Ron Santo might make the cut, since this election came right after his induction into Cooperstown. Santo and Orlando Cepeda (another first-timer) fell short with 58% of the vote.


Those receiving less than 15% will be dropped from the next ballot: Danny Murtaugh, Don McMahon, Ron Perranoski, Red Schoendienst, Elston Howard, Ralph Houk.
Held over for the next ballot will be: Allen, Cepeda, Santo, Spahn, Ford, Roger Maris, Jim Bunning, Maury Wills, Rod Carew, and Joe Torre (who just barely made the cut at 15%).


My ballot went this way:
Locks - Mantle, Robinson, Banks, Ford, Spahn
Deserving - Cepeda, Santo
Sentimental Pick - Maris

I had planned to vote for Allen, but opted for Maris.


Discuss…