Royals BBF HOF second chance election

[jalbright]

This will be one of three second chance round elections this week. What we'll do for the second chance election is a Yes/No vote requiring the greater of 6 or 75% of the votes to induct. The election will be limited to the listed nominees. The elections will only be open for a week--but there will be at least three or four days for discussion and new nominations. You can abstain from an entire ballot (player or contributor), but if you vote in that portion of the ballot, only the guys you expressly vote yes for get credit for a positive vote. The others in that section of the ballot will be considered to have gotten a "no" vote. There will be no limits on how many nominees you can vote for . I will also provide the nomination discussions for the nominees. The deadline for suggesting nominees is twelve hours before the election begins.

In this case, the election will not begin until Saturday, May 26 at 7 am EDT, and will end at 7 am EDT June 2. Nominations close 43 hours before the election begins, or May 24 at noon EDT. Ballots not cast within the stated election time frame will not count.

The Royals have the following already inducted:

Inducted players (11): Kevin Appier, George Brett, John Mayberry, Hal McRae, Jeff Montgomery, Amos Otis, Dan Quisenberry, Bret Saberhagen, Mike Sweeney, Frank White, Willie Wilson

Contributors (3): Whitey Herzog, Dick Howser, Ewing Kauffman

The list of nominees at present is:

Players
Mark Gubicza
Charlie Leibrandt
Dennis Leonard
Freddie Patek
Darrell Porter
Paul Splittorff

Contributors
Charlie Lau
Cookie Rojas
John Scheurholz
Kevin Seitzer
Cedric Tallis

[jalbright]

I think John Schuerholz deserves another shot at induction with the Royals. No second will be needed as he made the 50% vote mark.

He helped build the strong Royal teams of the late 70's first by working in 1969-75 at various assistant level jobs with the minor league aspect of the franchise. He moved up to Scouting and/or Farm Director roles, and became GM in 1982-1990. He put the finishing touches on the franchise's one World Series championship in 1985, and a team under his regime won another division championship to go with that one. In short, he had a long and productive career in the front office of the franchise.

[jalbright]

I'll make one more case that doesn't require a second, Dennis Leonard for the Royals:

Leonard is well represented on the Royal career pitching leaderboards:

5th in career pitching WAR;
2d in career wins;
5th in career won-loss percentage;
10th in career WHIP;
3d in career IP;
3d in career strikeouts; and
1st in shutouts.

He was no slouch in individual seasons, either:
5 times in the top 10 in his league in wins;
4 times in the top 10 in his league in won-loss percentage;
4 times in the top 10 in his league in K/ 9 IP;
5 times in the top 10 in his league in IP;
5 times in the top 10 in his league in strikeouts;
6 times in the top 10 in his league in shutouts; and
5 times in the top 10 in his league in k/ BB ratio.

[jalbright]

Domenic posted this on behalf of Kevin Seitzer as a contributor for the Royals:

Seitzer is something of an odd choice, I suppose - but he was immensely popular as a player, and fans laud his work as the team's hitting coach nowadays.

[brett]

Even though I don't like his philosophy, Charlie Lau has a case as a contributor. He did develop Brett, Wilson, McRae and Mayberry. He was credited as developing Mayberry and Big Jawn did explode in his first year in KC but I do not know if Lau was there at the time. I would nominate him. The other guy who might deserve nomination is Cookie Rojas. He played 8 years for KC and made 4 all star teams, but he needs some "contributor" credit to get in, as he was really the first "fan favorite". I remember that they had a Cookie Rojas night. He played all 9 positions in a game at one point.

Not so sure about others. Darrell Porter played 555 games and 3 real great seasons. Probably comparable to Mayberry.
Cone has the Cy Young but just 2 seasons.
Busby has the no hitter and a short excellent run.
Leibrandt should not be forgotten. 5 straight winning double digit win season.
Gubicza was actually rated as the top player in baseball by the sporting news based on 2 year performance and desirability for '88 and '89.
Splittorff has 166 wins as a lefty and ALL for one team.
I hate Patek but he had 3 all star seasons, a 6th place MVP vote in another and 325 steals in 8 years.
Splittoff would be the best case among player.

But seriously, just from a Royals baseball deep history perspective, Lau and Rojas should be in as contributors, or for Rojas in some kind of combined role.

[jalbright]

Even though I don't like his philosophy, Charlie Lau has a case as a contributor. He did develop Brett, Wilson, McRae and Mayberry. He was credited as developing Mayberry and Big Jawn did explode in his first year in KC but I do not know if Lau was there at the time. I would nominate him. The other guy who might deserve nomination is Cookie Rojas. He played 8 years for KC and made 4 all star teams, but he needs some "contributor" credit to get in, as he was really the first "fan favorite". I remember that they had a Cookie Rojas night. He played all 9 positions in a game at one point.

Not so sure about others. Darrell Porter played 555 games and 3 real great seasons. Probably comparable to Mayberry.
Cone has the Cy Young but just 2 seasons.
Busby has the no hitter and a short excellent run.
Leibrandt should not be forgotten. 5 straight winning double digit win season.
Gubicza was actually rated as the top player in baseball by the sporting news based on 2 year performance and desirability for '88 and '89.
Splittorff has 166 wins as a lefty and ALL for one team.
I hate Patek but he had 3 all star seasons, a 6th place MVP vote in another and 325 steals in 8 years.
Splittoff would be the best case among player.

But seriously, just from a Royals baseball deep history perspective, Lau and Rojas should be in as contributors, or for Rojas in some kind of combined role.

I'll list Lau and Rojas for the contributors, but I'm not clear which if any of the players mentioned are actually being nominated. If you want 1 or more of them nominated, I'd appreciate clarification. Thanks.

[brett]

I'll list Lau and Rojas for the contributors, but I'm not clear which if any of the players mentioned are actually being nominated. If you want 1 or more of them nominated, I'd appreciate clarification. Thanks.

I was wondering if there were some requirements like years of service for example. I would nominate Splittorff and Gubicza who were basically career Royals and at or near the top of the leaderboards.