Friday, July 22, 2016

1960s Blog Hall of Fame (#8)


It's time for another 1960s Blog Hall of Fame Election.



Last year Eddie Mathews and Ron Santo were inducted, joining the other 25 members in the Hall. Three players received less than 15% of the vote and were dropped from the ballot, leaving 7 returning candidates this time:

Jim Bunning
Rod Carew
Orlando Cepeda
Ferguson Jenkins
Roger Maris
Bill Mazeroski
Billy Williams


Added to the ballot this time are three players who are returning for a second chance* after missing the cut on the inaugural ballot:

Curt Flood
Jim Fregosi
Bobby Richardson
 

Here is the voting history for all the current candidates:



As always, use the sidebar poll to vote for up to half (this time 5) of the players on the ballot. The poll will close on August 31st.  Those with 75% or more will be inducted. In addition to using the poll, I encourage everyone to leave comments about their selections or thought processes, to hopefully spark some discussion about these players.

But do not use the comments as a means to vote, because I am only counting the votes in the actual poll widget, since there is no way to know if a vote in the comments is instead of, or in addition to, the poll. (I made an exception for one voter last year, because I didn't specify this up front, and could tell by monitoring the very few total voters in the poll that it was not duplicated.)


* Long-time voters may remember that the first election included over 60 names, with only the top vote-getter per position inducted regardless of anyone's voting percentage.  With a wide-open field, most voters flocked to the biggest names, leaving many worthy candidates with less than the 15% needed to be retained.  For example, Lou Brock received no votes the first time, but was later reinstated to the ballot and inducted into the Hall (as were Al Kaline and Carl Yastrzemski).

The rules were changed after the 1st time, to be in more line with traditional voting rules. No "second chances" will be given to players missing the cut under the new rules applied beginning with ballot #2.


Click on the "hall of fame ballot" label below to see the results of all previous elections.

2 comments:

Fireblossom said...

Among others, I voted for Jim Fregosi, the Angels' first consistent star. he was a stellar fielder who hit well for a SS of the era.

Jim from Downingtown said...

3rd voter: Roger Maris, Jim Bunning, Orlando Cepeda, Curt Flood, and Fergie Jenkins.

Maris – I have never been a Yankees fan, but have always had a soft spot for Mantle & Maris. I think the MLB HOF voters have sold him short. I’ve voted for Roger every time here.

Bunning – Star pitcher for the Tigers (1957-63) and Phillies (1964-67). 7-time All-star won 20 games once and 19 games 5 times. Frequently among league leaders in strikeouts. Oh yeah, I’m also a Phillie fan, and voted for Bunning all but the first 2 times.

Cepeda – 7-time all-star, and consistent HR threat during his career with the Giants. Also had a monster year in ’67, winning the MVP. I have voted for him most, but not every time.

Flood – Cardinals’ center fielder for 12 seasons, winning the Gold Glove in his last 7 seasons. Played in 3 World Series in the 1960s. Hit over .300 6 times, finished with .293 batting average. I think the HOF has given him the shaft due to his late-career controversy.

Jenkins – I’m on the fence about Jenkins. His “good” career began in 1967, so most of it was in the 1970s. Tom Seaver (’67) and Johnny Bench (’68) also started late in the 1960s, so maybe Jenkins is a “1970s Hall of Famer”, but he went from nowhere in 1966 to 3 straight 20-win seasons to close out the decade.