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…
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