A's BBF Hall of Fame 2d 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 A's have the following already inducted:

- Inducted Players (18): Frank Baker, Sal Bando, Chief Bender, Vida Blue, Bert Campaneris, Mickey Cochrane, Eddie Collins, Harry Davis, Dennis Eckersley, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Rickey Henderson, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Bob Johnson, Eddie Joost, Mark McGwire, Dwayne Murphy, Eddie Plank, Eddie Rommell, Al Simmons, Gene Tenace, Rube Waddell

- Inducted Contributors (4): Charles Finley, Connie Mack, Ben Shibe, Dick Williams

The list of nominees at present is:

Players
Max Bishop
Jose Canseco
Jimmy Dykes
Ferris Fain
Rollie Fingers
Carney Lansford
Mark Mulder
Danny Murphy
Joe Rudi
Bobby Shantz
Terry Steinbach
Dave Stewart
Rube Walberg

Contributors
Billy Beane
Tony LaRussa

[jalbright]

Billy Beane is another guy who needs no second due to reaching the 50% of the vote mark. He deserves a shot at making the A's as a contributor:

Beane manages a small-market team and must operate on a budget. His modus operandi is to build the team via the draft and trades and to eschew free agents. This has led to short-term complaints when he has elected not to re-sign popular players such as Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada, or when he traded Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson. Nonetheless few can argue with the success the A's have had under his stewardship.
ed: 4 division championships in that time.

He started in the front office of the A's in 1990 and by 1997 he was the GM. He is known for paying close attention to sabermetrics. Beane has had a high profile as GM. Rob Neyer once wrote an article asking if Beane was on his way to the Hall of Fame, fully cognizant that there are few GM's in the Hall. Some call his style "Beane Ball".

His big success in 2006 was Frank Thomas. Thomas, after having two injury-plagued seasons in 2004 and 2005, was deemed expendable by the Chicago White Sox. The A's were able to sign him for a mere $500,000 plus incentives. Thomas, who was unable to play during most of spring training, had to use major league games in April as his form of spring training, and thus started very slowly. But he led the A's in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and earned $1.5 million in incentives for his play that year. The A's won the AL West title in large part due to Beane signing Frank Thomas.

The Athletics' own website calls him "progressive and talented", and notes he has a .565 winning percentage - and also notes that in the last six seasons his winning percentage is even higher at .588. Players under his watch have won two MVP awards, one Cy Young Award, and one Rookie of the Year award. Beane doesn't ignore the minors - his teams in the minors played at a .545 clip in 2005. The website continues to note that Beane has been very active in making trades before the trading deadline, and that his teams do even better after the deadline.

He was the Sporting News Executive of the Year in 1999, and won Baseball America's 2002 award as Major League Baseball's Executive of the Year.

[jalbright]

Tony LaRussa just recently became eligible for the A's by virtue of retiring. As a reminder of what he meant to the A's, here's a case for him for the A's:

Won 4 division titles, 3 pennants and 1 World Series in his ten year stint managing the team. He was twice manager of the year, and added a second, a third and two fourth place finishes for that honor while the A's manager.

[dgarza]

Jose Canseco
Yes, he has issues, but he received 70% of the vote last election and was just a huge star.

Mr. 40/40

.264/.344/.507
136 OPS+
254 HRs
135/190 Stolen Bases = 71.1%
25.4 WAR

1986 AL Rookie of the Year

1988 AL MVP

All-Star Games
1986
1988 (LF)
1989
1990 (RF)
1992

Silver Sluggers
1988 AL (OF)
1990 AL (OF)
1991 AL (OF)

A's team records (500 game min.):
4th in HRs
6th in RBIs
7th in SLG

1985-1992 AL (500 game min.)
1st in HRs - actually, 1st in HRs in all of baseball
2nd in SLG
4th in RBIs
6th in OPS+

[dgarza]

Carney Lansford
.288/.343/.404
112 OPS+
25.2 WAR

1992 ML Hutch Award

All-Star Games
1988 *

Fielding % as 3B
1985 AL .976 (1st)
1986 AL .982 (1st)
1987 AL .980 (1st)
1988 AL .979 (1st)

Lansford's postseason performance was pretty good, but there were 3 series in which he was hitting like mad.

                                                                                
Year   Age  Tm  Lg Series Opp  G  PA  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS
1989    32 OAK  AL   ALCS TOR  3  13  11  2  5  0  0  0   4 .455 .538 .455  .993
1989    32 OAK  AL     WS SFG  4  19  16  5  7  1  0  1   4 .438 .526 .688 1.214
1990    33 OAK  AL   ALCS BOS  4  18  16  2  7  1  0  0   2 .438 .438 .500  .938
4 Yrs (7 Series)              29 123 111 15 34  3  0  2  15 .306 .358 .387  .745

[dgarza]

Tony LaRussa

Won 4 division titles, 3 pennants and 1 World Series in his ten year stint managing the team. He was twice manager of the year, and added a second, a third and two fourth place finishes for that honor while the A's manager.

Also 3 straight ROYs developed under LaRussa's leadership : Canseco, McGwire, Weiss

[dgarza]

Joe Rudi
.264/.311/.427
112 OPS+
19.4 WAR

One of the stars of the 1972-1974 World Series Champs.
In 1972, Rudi made a great game-saving catch in Game 2 that would be the highlight reel for many Major League Baseball films.
4285765.jpg

                                                                      
Year   Series Opp Rslt G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
1973       WS NYM    W 7 31 27 3 9  2  0  0   4  3 .333 .400 .407 .807
1974       WS LAD    W 5 19 18 1 6  0  0  1   4  0 .333 .333 .500 .833

MVP runner-up twice
1972 AL (2, 49%)
1974 AL (2, 48%)

All-Star Games
1972 *
1974 *
1975 (LF)

Gold Gloves
1974 AL (OF)
1975 AL (OF)

[dgarza]

Terry Steinbach
.275/.328/.426
107 OPS+
132 HRs
22.8 WAR

1988 ML AS MVP

Star of the 1990 ALCS

                                                      
Year   Series Opp Rslt G PA AB R H   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
1990     ALCS BOS    W 3 12 11 2 5 .455 .500 .455 .955

All-Star Games
1988 (C)
1989 (C)
1993 *
Hit in every All-Star Game he made

                                                       
Year         Tm PA AB R H HR RBI    BA  OBP   SLG   OPS
1988        OAK  2  1 1 1  1   2 1.000 .500 4.000 4.500
1989        OAK  3  3 0 1  0   0  .333 .333  .333  .667
1993        OAK  2  2 0 1  0   1  .500 .500 1.000 1.500
3 Yrs (3 GP)     7  6 1 3  1   3  .500 .429 1.167 1.595

Hit most HRs of any A's Catcher

                                  
Rk            Player  HR From   To
1    Terry Steinbach 132 1986 1996
2        Gene Tenace 121 1969 1976
3    Mickey Cochrane 108 1925 1933
4      Frankie Hayes 101 1933 1945
5    Ramon Hernandez  60 1999 2003
6        Dave Duncan  60 1964 1972

[dgarza]

Dave Stewart
119-78 = .604 %
103 ERA+
16.9 pWAR

Won 20 games 4 years straight - 1987-1990 - no pitcher has done that since...

2nd most Wins, all MLB, 1986-1992

                                
Rk          Player   W From   To
1    Roger Clemens 136 1986 1992
2     Dave Stewart 116 1986 1992
3      Frank Viola 116 1986 1992
4      Jack Morris 114 1986 1992
5        Bob Welch 106 1986 1992

1989 AL Babe Ruth Award
1989 ML WS MVP
1990 AL ALCS MVP
1990 ML Roberto Clemente Award

All-Star Games
1989 (P)

Key player in the 1988-1990 A's.
Post-season

                                
Year   Series Opp W L  W-L%  ERA
1988     ALCS BOS 1 0 1.000 1.35
1988       WS LAD 0 1  .000 3.14
1989     ALCS TOR 2 0 1.000 2.81
1989       WS SFG 2 0 1.000 1.69
1990     ALCS BOS 2 0 1.000 1.13
1990       WS CIN 0 2  .000 2.77
1992     ALCS TOR 1 0 1.000 2.70

[dgarza]

Max Bishop
.272/.423/.370
104 OPS+
33.1 WAR

Fielding % as 2B
1926 AL .987 (1st)
1928 AL .978 (1st)
1932 AL .988 (1st)

2nd most A's Walks - behind Rickey Henderson
3rd best A's OBP

2nd best A's 2B

                                         
Rk          Player WAR/pos    G From   To
1    Eddie Collins    55.1 1156 1906 1930
[B][U]2       Max Bishop    33.1 1183 1924 1933[/U][/B]
3     Danny Murphy    32.4 1412 1902 1913
4       Mark Ellis    23.1 1056 2002 2011
5    Tony Phillips    14.4  941 1982 1999

Walks from 1924-1933:

                                    
Rk        Player   BB    G From   To
1      Babe Ruth 1199 1403 1924 1933
[U][B]2     Max Bishop 1046 1183 1924 1933[/B][/U]
3     Lou Gehrig  896 1371 1924 1933
4        Lu Blue  811 1188 1924 1933
5    Willie Kamm  700 1417 1924 1933

OBP from 1924-1933:

                                       
Rk           Player  OBP    G From   To
1         Babe Ruth .476 1403 1924 1933
2    Rogers Hornsby .456 1084 1924 1933
3     Eddie Collins .448  518 1924 1930
4        Lou Gehrig .442 1371 1924 1933
5       Jimmie Foxx .435  959 1925 1933
6    Harry Heilmann .431 1018 1924 1932
7           Ty Cobb .427  583 1924 1928
[U][B]8        Max Bishop .423 1183 1924 1933[/B][/U]
9       Lefty ODoul .419  811 1928 1933
10     Tris Speaker .417  608 1924 1928

Elite AL 2B, 1924-1933:

                                             
Rk              Player WAR/pos    G From   To
1         Tony Lazzeri    34.7 1130 1926 1933
[U][B]2           Max Bishop    33.1 1183 1924 1933[/B][/U]
3    Charlie Gehringer    32.9 1140 1924 1933
4           Buddy Myer    21.2 1123 1925 1933
5        Eddie Collins    15.7  518 1924 1930

[dgarza]

Danny Murphy
Famously part of the $100,000 Infield.

.290/.336/.407
126 OPS+
32.4 WAR

Strong World Series record:

                                                                  
Year   Series Opp  G PA AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS
1905       WS NYG  5 17 16  0  3  1  0  0   0 .188 .188 .250  .438
1910       WS CHC  5 22 20  6  8  3  0  1   9 .400 .429 .700 1.129
1911       WS NYG  6 24 23  4  7  3  0  0   3 .304 .304 .435  .739
3 WS              16 63 59 10 18  7  0  1  12 .305 .317 .475  .791

A's 2B WAR:

                                    
Rk          Player WAR/pos From   To
1    Eddie Collins    55.1 1906 1930
2       Max Bishop    33.1 1924 1933
[B][U]3     Danny Murphy    32.4 1902 1913[/U][/B]
4       Mark Ellis    23.1 2002 2011
5    Tony Phillips    14.4 1982 1999

One of the best 2B in all of baseball, 1902-1913:

                                     
Rk           Player WAR/pos From   To
1        Nap Lajoie    76.7 1902 1913
2     Eddie Collins    44.4 1906 1913
3      Johnny Evers    37.5 1902 1913
[B][U]4      Danny Murphy    32.4 1902 1913[/U][/B]
5    Miller Huggins    28.0 1904 1913

After his playing career ended, Danny Murphy was a Philadelphia Athletics coach from 1920 to 1924.

[dgarza]

Ferris Fain
.297/.426/.408
124 OPS+
20.7 WAR

Big batting years in '51 & '52:
Batting Average
1951 AL .344 (1st)
1952 AL .327 (1st)

One of the best OBP in baseball, 1947-1952 :

                                    
Rk         Player  OBP   G From   To
1    Ted Williams .483 691 1947 1952
2     Stan Musial .434 913 1947 1952
[B][U]3     Ferris Fain .426 844 1947 1952[/U][/B]
4    Eddie Stanky .416 701 1947 1952
5      Elmer Valo .415 756 1947 1952

All-Star Games
1950 *
1951 (1B)
1952

Assists as 1B
1948 AL 120 (1st)
1950 AL 124 (1st)
1951 AL 113 (1st)
1952 AL 150 (1st)

In 1950, he broke the record for double plays by a first baseman.

[dgarza]

Bobby Shantz
1952 AL MVP
1952 AL TSN Pitcher of the Year

111 ERA+
18.1 pWAR
19.3 WAR

All-Star Games
1951
1952 *

1952 - Led League in :
WAR
pWAR
Wins
Winning %
K/BB
BB/9
WHIP

[dgarza]

Rollie Fingers
67-61 = .523 %
136 Saves
784 Strikeouts
117 ERA+
1.135 WHIP

1974 ML WS MVP
(1973 WS was great as well)

                                                                 
Year   Series Rslt Opp  ERA G GF SV   IP SO  WHIP HR/9 BB/9 SO/BB
1973       WS    W NYM 0.66 6  3  2 13.2  8 1.244  0.0  2.6  2.00
1974       WS    W LAD 1.93 4  3  2  9.1  6 1.071  1.9  1.9  3.00

All-Star Games
1973 *
1974 *
1975
1976

[dgarza]

Jimmy Dykes
.283/.365/.411
1705 Hits
25.1 WAR

Star in the 1929 World Series

                                                          
Year   Series Opp Rslt G PA AB R H RBI   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
1929       WS CHC    W 5 20 19 2 8   4 .421 .450 .474 .924

4th on the A's all time Hit list:

                                    
Rk             Player    H From   To
1     Bert Campaneris 1882 1964 1976
2          Al Simmons 1827 1924 1944
3    Rickey Henderson 1768 1979 1998
[B][U]4         Jimmy Dykes 1705 1918 1932[/U][/B]
5         Bob Johnson 1617 1933 1942

One of the best 3B all of baseball, 1918-1932:

                                        
Rk              Player WAR/pos From   To
1          Pie Traynor    30.7 1920 1932
2          Willie Kamm    28.3 1923 1932
[B][U]3          Jimmy Dykes    25.1 1918 1932[/U][/B]
4          Heinie Groh    23.3 1918 1927
5    Freddie Lindstrom    22.2 1924 1932

Also managed A's 1951-53