Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez, and Mike Mussina were elected to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
Rivera was named on all 425 submitted ballots – the first unanimous inductee in the game's history.
To argue that Fruitbat is not a first-ballot Hall of Famer is delusional – he is 5th all-time in Win Probability Added (WPA) for pitchers and has the 3rd-lowest WHIP of all-time* – but it is also beyond ludicrous that no player in the previous 74 elections since 1936 had received 100% of the votes cast. (We will now likely see more unanimous selections in the future.)
*: The two guys above him ended their careers in 1910 and 1917, respectively.
Some of the game's greatest players and their induction year vote totals.
Babe Ruth, 1936: 95.1% (not on 11 of 226 ballots) Ty Cobb, 1936: 98.2% (not on 4 of 226 ballots) Walter Johnson, 1936: 83.6% (not on 37 of 226 ballots) Joe DiMaggio, 1955: 88.8% (not on 28 of 251 ballots; his fourth year on the ballot) Ted Williams, 1966: 93.4% (not on 20 of 302 ballots) Stan Musial, 1969: 93.2% (not on 23 of 340 ballots) Willie Mays, 1979: 94.7% (not on 23 of 432 ballots) Bob Gibson, 1981: 84.0% (not on 64 of 401 ballots) Hank Aaron, 1982: 97.8% (not on 9 of 415 ballots) Rickey Henderson, 2009: 94.8% (not on 28 of 539 ballots) Greg Maddux, 2014: 97.2% (not on 16 of 571 ballots) Pedro Martinez, 2015: 91.1% (not on 59 of 549 ballots)Hall of Famers With 95+% Of Votes
Mariano Rivera, 2019: 100.0% Ken Griffey Jr., 2016: 99.3% Tom Seaver, 1992: 98.8% Nolan Ryan, 1999: 98.8% Cal Ripken Jr., 2007: 98.5% Ty Cobb, 1936: 98.2% George Brett, 1999: 98.2% Hank Aaron, 1982: 97.8% Tony Gwynn, 2007: 97.6% Randy Johnson, 2015: 97.3% Greg Maddux, 2014: 97.2% Chipper Jones, 2018: 97.2% Mike Schmidt, 1995: 96.5% Johnny Bench, 1989: 96.4% Steve Carlton, 1994: 95.8% Babe Ruth, 1936: 95.1% Honus Wagner, 1936: 95.1%
Silver Lining: The first unanimous Hall of Fame selection will not be Derek Jeter.
8 comments:
"The latest furor began Sunday as Giuliani, wearing a suit, tie and New York Yankees World Series ring, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press”...."
WTF! His WS ring??? Crackerjacks box or did I miss something along the way?
The MFYs sold him four WS rings at below-market rates for graft-related reasons.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Captain Intangibles will NOT be a unanimous selection. Is he deserving of election? Of course; his numbers alone qualify him. But he is nowhere close to the level of some of the greatest to ever play the game, none of whom were elected unanimously.
From a recent MLB.com post: "He never won an MVP, he has a lower career WAR than Larry Walker (a guy who will make his final appearance on the ballot next season), and he was a subpar defensive shortstop with a lower career on-base percentage than, uh, Jack Clark."
It's possible that the writers may get blinded by those who put Jeter as one of the greatest MFY players ever (same article: "On the other hand: He was Derek Jeter."), but I'm willing to bet that a few will leave him off their ballot.
Thanks for that link, Benjamin. I was never going to be a fan of either the ballclub or the mayor, but the article with its detailing of slippery side deals and insider bullshit made me want to, I guess, do something ugly to both team and politician.
I love Mariano, and I always will.
That is all.
He deserved it.
Dammit.....
He deserved it.
I'm sorry...
You know he did.
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