Reds BBF HOF project, second chance round

[jalbright]

This will be one of three second chance round elections begun 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, June 9 at 7 am EDT, and will end at 7 am EDT June 16. Nominations close 43 hours before the election begins, or June 7 at noon EDT. Ballots not cast within the stated election time frame will not count.

The Reds have the following already inducted:

- Inducted Players (25): Johnny Bench, Ewell Blackwell, Dave Concepcion, Eric Davis, Paul Derringer, George Foster, Heinie Groh, Noodles Hahn, Ted Kluszewski, Barry Larkin, Ernie Lombardi, Frank McCormick, Bid McPhee, Joe Morgan, Tony Mullane, Tony Perez, Vada Pinson, Jose Rijo, Eppa Rixey, Frank Robinson, Pete Rose, Edd Roush, Mario Soto, Johnny Vander Meer and Bucky Walters

- Inducted Contributors (3): Sparky Anderson, Bill McKechnie, Joe Nuxhall

The list of nominees at present is:

Players
Ed Bailey
Jake Beckley
Gus Bell
Leo Cardenas
Sean Casey
Rob Dibble
Frank Dwyer
Bob Ewing
John Franco
Lonny Frey
Ken Griffey
Dolf Luque
Jim Maloney
Roy McMillan
Gary Nolan
Bob Purkey
John Reilly
Billy Rhines
Chris Sabo
Tom Seaver
Will White

Contributors
Frank Bancroft
Marty Brennaman
O. P. Caylor
Powell Crosley
August Herrmann
Bob Howsam
Fred Hutchinson
Pat Moran
Marge Schott

[jalbright]

dgarza wrote this case up:

I'll make a case for 1 more Red.

Jim Maloney

For the franchise overall :
1st in Ks, K/9 (500 IP min.)
2nd in Shutouts
4th in pWAR
5th in oWAR for pitchers
7th in Wins

From Wikipedia...
Maloney pitched two games in which he gave up no hits through nine innings in 1965, while going on to win 20 games that year. His first hitless nine-inning performance in 1965 was on June 14 against the New York Mets. This game lasted through 10 scoreless innings, including a combined 18 strikeouts, but Johnny Lewis led off with a home run in the 11th inning. Hence, Maloney lost the game 1-0. At the time, that game was officially recognized as a no-hitter, but the rules were later changed to omit no-hit games that were broken up in extra innings.

Maloney's first official no-hitter came on August 19, 1965, against the Chicago Cubs, which he won 1-0. This was the first no-hitter in major league history where the pitcher who threw it went more than nine innings. His second one came on April 30, 1969, in which he beat the Houston Astros 10-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

[jalbright]

BigRon and I collaborated to put this together for Dolf Luque:

Ouch- Dolf Luque hasn't been elected to the Reds Hall of Fame? This is amazing. Luque is one of a small handful of the best pitchers in Reds history. He pitched well for more than 10 years for the Reds, won more than 150 games with often mediocre teams, won 2 ERA crowns. Unfortunately I haven't been following the Reds election closely- when I opened it up today I first saw the results through 3 rounds, saw Luque hadn't been elected, said huh? Then I looked further, saw that he didn't make it in round 4- a real travesty. I'm feeling bad since I didn't vote in this one. Anyhow, a BIG mistake.

Well, there will be a second chance election to fix that. I voted for him in all four rounds, and I'll vote for him again. Interestingly, though, he seems to have been more consistently good than flashy, and that's probably part of the problem. Yeah, he led in pitching WAR twice, but was in the top ten "only" twice more. In ERA, he had the two titles and four other top 10 finishes. The teams hurt in the win and win percentage figures, where he was in the top 10 three and two times respectively. He was in the top 10 in WHIP six times, and five times each for IP, K and CG. For the franchise overall, he's second in career IP, 5th in career wins, 5th in pitching WAR, 12th in both K and ERA+, and 5th in career shutouts.


dgarza added this:

For the franchise overall, he's second in career IP, 5th in career wins, 5th in pitching WAR, 12th in both K and ERA+, and 5th in career shutouts.

I was going to give case for Luque, but all of what BigRon says and mostly this quote is alot of why he deserves election.

Plus, of course, his monster 1923. Arguably the best pitching performance by a Reds starter.
He is one of the best hitting pitchers for the Reds as well.

Subjective factors include being the 1st Cuban born pitcher in the majors. It wouldn't be until the 1950s that another really lasting Cuban would really hold up in the majors.
I believe he was the 1st Cuban born player overall to have a truely great season.

[jalbright]

dgarza provided this on Bob Purkey for the Reds:

I'd like to make a push for a few players.

Bob Purkey
Purkey was a 5x All Star, Starting Pitcher for one of the 1961 AGS

In 1962, he was 23-5, with Winning Percentage of .821, which was best in both the NL and the Majors.
He tied for 3rd place in the MLB CY voting that year, getting 1 1st place vote.

He won 17 games in a season 3x for the Reds. Only 11 others have done so.

                                                         
Rk                       Yrs From   To                Age
1            Frank Dwyer   6 1892 1897 24-29 Ind. Seasons
2         Paul Derringer   5 1935 1940 28-33 Ind. Seasons
3             Eppa Rixey   5 1921 1928 30-37 Ind. Seasons
4           Tony Mullane   5 1886 1892 27-33 Ind. Seasons
5          Bucky Walters   4 1939 1944 30-35 Ind. Seasons
6           Pete Donohue   4 1922 1926 21-25 Ind. Seasons
7           Noodles Hahn   4 1899 1903 20-24 Ind. Seasons
8           Billy Rhines   4 1890 1897 21-28 Ind. Seasons
9             Will White   4 1882 1885 27-30 Ind. Seasons
10            Jim OToole   3 1961 1964 24-27 Ind. Seasons
[B]11            [U]Bob Purkey[/U]   3 1958 1962 28-32 Ind. Seasons[/B]
12             Bob Ewing   3 1905 1908 32-35 Ind. Seasons

Purkey is 1 of 18 Reds to win 100+ games as a Red. His .575 % is 7th best of the 100 game winners.

                                                            
Rk               Player W-L%   W   L   G From   To   Age  GS
1            Will White .663 136  69 208 1882 1886 27-31 207
2           Jim Maloney .623 134  81 289 1960 1970 20-30 258
3            Gary Nolan .621 110  67 245 1967 1977 19-29 242
4         Bucky Walters .599 160 107 312 1938 1948 29-39 296
5          Tom Browning .583 123  88 300 1984 1994 24-34 298
6          Noodles Hahn .580 127  92 237 1899 1905 20-26 225
[B]7            [U]Bob Purke[/U]y .575 103  76 244 1958 1964 28-34 217[/B]
8           Frank Dwyer .571 133 100 262 1892 1899 24-31 226
9          Tony Mullane .568 163 124 316 1886 1893 27-34 285
10           Eppa Rixey .547 179 148 440 1921 1933 30-42 357
11          Joe Nuxhall .544 130 109 484 1944 1966 15-37 274
12         Pete Donohue .536 127 110 316 1921 1930 20-29 253
13            Red Lucas .524 109  99 257 1926 1933 24-31 202
14           Mario Soto .521 100  92 297 1977 1988 20-31 224
15       Paul Derringer .518 161 150 393 1933 1942 26-35 322
16            Bob Ewing .512 108 103 252 1902 1909 29-36 228
17           Dolf Luque .503 154 152 395 1918 1929 27-38 321
18   Johnny Vander Meer .500 116 116 313 1937 1949 22-34 279

[jalbright]

dgarza provided this on Lonny Frey of the Reds

Lonny Frey
Frey played 7 seasons for the Reds, but lost 2 years during WWII.

Frey is the 3rd best 2B in Reds history in terms of WAR.

                                       
Rk             Player WAR/pos From   To
1          Joe Morgan    61.3 1972 1979
2          Bid McPhee    57.9 1882 1899
[B]3          [U]Lonny Frey[/U]    30.4 1938 1946[/B]
4      Miller Huggins    16.6 1904 1909
5       Johnny Temple    16.4 1952 1964

Frey is 2nd in all time Reds WAR Runs Fielding for 2B.

                                                 
Rk             Player Rfield From   To   Age    G
1          Bid McPhee    154 1882 1899 22-39 2138
[B]2          [U]Lonny Frey[/U]     89 1938 1946 27-35  941[/B]
3        Hughie Critz     73 1924 1930 23-29  802
4         Pokey Reese     40 1997 2001 24-28  604
5           Sam Bohne     40 1921 1926 24-29  602

Frey accumulated a WAR of 6.0 at 2B. He did it two years in a row, 1939 & 1940. Joe Morgan is the only other Red 2B to have 6.0+ WAR in any season.

Frey was a 3x AS, starting both 1939 & 1941 Classics.

From 1938-1946, Frey had the most HR, BB, & SB of all NL 2B.
In 1940, he led the NL in Putouts and Assists at 2B.
In 1943, he led the NL in % at 2B.

Frey helped drive the Reds to consecutive pennants in 1939 & 1940 by leading all his position player teammates in WAR.

[jalbright]

Paul Wendt posted this on behalf on O. P. Caylor as a contributor for the Reds:

In O.P. Caylor the Reds, too, have a plausible sportswriter candidate. Spink and Caylor organized semipro teams in 1881 and helped organize the current ballclubs for the American Association 1882 inaugural season. Along with Pittsburgh (the Allegheny club), St Louis and Cincinnati led the organization of the new circuit. Both Spink and Caylor are sometimes called founders of the clubs and the league and both were early club officers.

[jalbright]

Beady made this post on behalf of Frank Bancroft as a contributor for the Reds:

Frank Bancroft

Thanks to Paul Wendt for suggesting Bancroft, who I would have overlooked. He was the man who made opening day an institution in Cincinnati. Also possibly the most important early team manager next to Harry Wright, before settling in for a long run as the Reds' popular business manager.

[jalbright]

hairmetalfreek posted this argument on behalf of Bob Howsam as a contributor for the Reds:

I would like to stump for a contributor - Bob Howsam, who is missing on a couple of ballots. He traded for Joe Morgan, Cesar Geronimo, Jack Billingham, and George Foster (among several other role players), hired Sparky Anderson, and served as general manager during 4 World Series trips (2 wins, 2 losses) in the 1970s.

[dgarza]

Ken Griffey
Important cog in the Big Red Machine.
Also received a WS ring as part of the 1990 Championship, although he was no longer with the team at the end of the year.

Griffey led Reds in AVG both in 1975 & 1976, and was 2nd only to Rose for the entire Reds 70s.
10th on All Time Reds Hit list.

.303/.370/.434
123 OPS+
23.9 WAR
1275 Hits
156 SBs

All-Star Games
1976 *
1977
1980 *

1980 ML AS MVP

All Star Stats:

                                                                
Year   Tm Lg Age GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI   BA  OBP   SLG   OPS
3 Yrs (2 GP)         4  4 2 3  0  0  1   2 .750 .750 1.500 2.250

He returned to the Reds as a coach from 1997 to 2001.
Griffey was a coach for the Dayton Dragons [Reds farm] in 2010.

[PVNICK]

Griffey was also one of the fastest players in the game, or had that reputation. By moving into the line-up and batting 2nd which moved Morgan to the 3 slot. This gave them an even more dynamic line-up especially in the Astroturf era.

[dgarza]

Marty Brennaman
Radio announcer from 1974-present.
In 2000, Marty Brennaman won the Ford C. Frick Award.
Brennaman has been named Ohio Sportscaster of the Year twelve times.

[J W]

Might as well pitch Will White even if it was with the American Association club:

1882-1886
7693 BF
136-69 (.663), 2.51 ERA (124 ERA+), 1.096 WHIP, 25.8 pWAR, won over 40 games twice with the club

That's been good enough for election for many other team Halls.

[J W]

Gary Nolan

1967-1977
6747 BF
110-70 (.621), 3.02 ERA (119 ERA+), 1.138 WHIP, 24.5 pWAR

Nolan was an important part of the Big Red Machine teams of the late 60s and 70s. He started 11 games between four postseasons and averaged out pretty close to his career numbers (3.34 ERA, 1.129 WHIP).

[westsidegrounds]

I nominate Jim Brosnan as a contributor, not only to the Redlegs but to baseball in general, for writing The Long Season:


An honest book that furnished an insight into the ballplayer's life which no outsider could possibly get. - Red Smith

Fifty years on, Brosnan's books remain the gold standard for baseball memoirs. - Mark Armour ( SABR bio)

There is humor, genuine objectivity, and much more human interest than in any comparable volume related to the game and its players. - Kirkus Reviews

Ten years before "Ball Four", Brosnan published the first (and still best) baseball diary. - Davis Ulin, Los Angeles Times

Jim Brosnan's place in the hearts of admirers of baseball literature remains secure. - Marty Appel

The greatest baseball book ever written. - Jimmy Cannon

[jalbright]

We're not doing nominations for contributions to baseball in general in this project, and since I allowed Franklin Adams to be presented for the Cubs, I at least have to allow it a chance. If someone else wants to second the Brosnan nomination for a book I never heard of before this and is essentially a diary of one season for a guy who didn't even get to the Reds until June that year, I'll allow it. Please note that at this point, seconding means you actually will vote for this candidate if presented. I won't based on what I know now, so I'm not providing the second. I will need the second by Friday at 7 pm or I will not put this name on the ballot.