BBF Braves Hall of Fame - second chance round

[jalbright]

This will be one of two 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.

In this case, the election will not begin until Saturday, June 23 at 7 am EDT, and will end at 7 am EDT June 30. Nominations close 43 hours before the election begins, or June 21 at noon EDT. Ballots not cast within the stated election time frame will not count.

The Braves have the following already inducted:

- Inducted Players (18): Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock, Wally Berger, Tommy Bond, Del Crandall, Hugh Duffy, Bob Elliott, Tom Glavine, Tommy Holmes, David Justice, Johnny Logan, Herman Long, Greg Maddux, Rabbit Maranville, Eddie Mathews, Dale Murphy, Kid Nichols, Phil Niekro, John Smoltz, Warren Spahn, Joe Torre, Vic Willis

- Inducted Contributors (5): Bobby Cox, Leo Mazzone, John Schuerholz, Frank Selee, Ted Turner

The list of nominees at present is:

Players
Felipe Alou
Jeff Blauser
Lew Burdette
Rico Carty
John Clarkson
Ralph Garr
Billy Hamilton
Bob Horner
Javy Lopez
Fred McGriff
Felix Millan
Billy Nash
Johnny Sain
Fred Tenney

Contributors
Bill Bartholomay
Skip Caray
Milo Hamilton
Ernie Johnson
Arthur Soden
George Stallings
Pete van Wieren
Harry Wright

[jalbright]

Here's a case jjpm74 made for Harry Wright as a contributor for the Braves:

A lot of this organization's early success is due to Harry Wright. More here.

[jalbright]

I want to make two nominations for the Braves: Billy Hamilton and John Clarkson.

Hamilton was with the Braves franchise from 1896-1901, and is the CF with the most WAR during that time. He was the best CF in WAR in the following individual seasons: 1896, 1897, 1898 and 1900.

Clarkson was with the team in 1888-1892, though only half the 1891 season. He was dominant in that time, though:
He got a pitching Triple Crown (Wins, ERA and K's) in 1889
He led the league (all players) in WAR in 1889, and was 6th in the same classification in 1890;
In pitching WAR, he led the league in 1889, was 5th in 1890, 8th in 1892, and 9th in 1888;
In ERA, he was first in 1889 and 3rd in 1892;
In wins, he was first in 1889, 2d in 1888, and 7th in 1890;
In won-loss percentage, he was first in 1889, 6th in 1888, and 9th in 1890;
In strikeouts/ 9 IP, he was 5th in 1889 and 9th in 1888;
In strikeouts, he was first in 1889, 2d in 1888, and 10th in 1890;
and in IP, he led in both 1888 and 1889 and was 7th in 1890.

This was in an era when pitchers often had all their careers in as few as five seasons, or at least all their productive years in such a span. Few if any in that time could match Clarkson's productivity in his years with the Braves.

[jalbright]

Here's a case for Arthur Soden as a contributor for the Braves, no seconding required:

Soden's responsibility for the reserve clause is generally misunderstood. The NL met in the fall of 1879 to find a way to control player salaries, but after some thought everybody decided the pay scale they had expected to put in place would not work, so they substituted the idea, probably suggested by Soden, of allowing each club to reserve some of its men. Soden may have invented the reserve clause, but it's not as though he imposed tight-fisted, mercenary ways on owners who until then had been generous sportsmen. He simply came up with a way to achieve what all the clubs wanted.

Soden took over the Boston club by buying out small shareholders during this same period, when it was losing money steadily and clubs generally were failing at such a rate that it must have seemed doubtful professional baseball would ever be a workable business. Buying up the stock can hardly have seemed like a smart business move, and I believe he did it simply to try to make baseball work in Boston, even at the risk of some capital. Had he not done so, Boston would surely not have gone long without professional baseball, but the club we know as the Braves might well have disappeared before 1880. Since he kept them alive when they might have died, Soden is as deserving a choice for the team Hall of Fame as Aaron or Spahn or Maddux or anybody else.

[jalbright]

Here's a case by jjpm74 for Fred Tenney of the Braves (no seconding required):

Players
Joe Adcock

Fred Tenney played more games at first base and is 4th all time in hits for the team with 1994 compared to Joe Adcock's 1206 hits. He is also 5th all time in BA for the team with a .300 BA to Adcock's .285 BA. It's hard to overlook a player who is 7th all time in games played with the team despite shorter seasons than in Adcock's career at the same position. Tenney played played 530 more games for the team at the same position and was a slightly more productive hitter with the Braves.

[Los Bravos]

First and foremost

I think we have to look at the members of the actual Braves team HOF who aren't in this one yet.

Players:

Lew Burdette
Ralph Garr
Johnny Sain

Contributors:

Bill Bartholomay
Skip Caray
Ernie Johnson
Bill Lucas
Paul Snyder
Pete Van Wieren

[jalbright]

I think we have to look at the members of the actual Braves team HOF who aren't in this one yet.

Players:

Lew Burdette
Ralph Garr
Johnny Sain

Contributors:

Bill Bartholomay
Skip Caray
Ernie Johnson
Bill Lucas
Paul Snyder
Pete Van Wieren

If you write up the cases for any of these, they'll have a chance at the ballot. Just mentioning their names isn't enough.

[Los Bravos]

I intend to, for these guys and several others. I just wanted to sort of plant a flag in the thread while I marshall some research.

[dgarza]

Javy Lopez
.287/.337/.502
214 HRs
114 OPS+
21.6 WAR

2003 NL Comeback Player of the Year Award - posting his best year ever, batting .328 with 43 HRs and a 6.6 WAR

1996 NL NLCS MVP

                                                                                
Year    Tm Lg Series Opp Rslt G PA AB R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB   BA  OBP   SLG   OPS
1996   ATL NL   NLCS STL    W 7 28 24 8 13  5  0  2   6  3 .542 .607 1.000 1.607

Silver Sluggers
2003 NL (C)

All-Star Games
1997 *
1998 *
2003 (C)

Lopez is 1st in Braves catcher HRs, RBIs, & SLG; 2nd in AVG; 3rd in WAR

Range Factor/9Inn as C
1994 NL 8.31 (1st)
1996 NL 8.69 (1st)
1998 NL 8.62 (1st)

Range Factor/Game as C
1994 NL 7.92 (1st)
1996 NL 7.96 (1st)
1998 NL 8.17 (1st)

Fielding % as C
1998 NL .995 (1st)

[dgarza]

Milo Hamilton
Announcer for the Braves from 1966-1975, calling Aaron's 715th HR.

He received the Ford Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.

[dgarza]

Fred McGriff
.293/.369/.516
130 HRs
128 OPS+

All-Star Games
1994 *
1995 (1B)
1996 (1B)

1994 ML AS MVP

Silver Sluggers
1993 NL (1B)

Braves post-season record :

                                                                            
Year                 G  PA  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS  TB
4 Yrs (9 Series)    45 197 167 35 54 11  1 10  34 27 .323 .411 .581 .992 97

From 1993-1997, McGriff led the historic Braves teams in Runs, Hits, HRs, & RBIs.

[dgarza]

Jeff Blauser
.268/.355/.415
106 OPS+

All-Star Games
1993 *
1997 (SS)

Silver Sluggers
1997 NL (SS)

[dgarza]

George Stallings
4th most games and 3rd most wins as Braves manager.

Managed the 1914 "Miracle Braves" who overcame a huge mid-season deficit to win the NL pennant.

Stallings is credited with being the first manager to use platooning to good effect.
Bill James credits him with being the first major league manager to use platooning as a weapon, rather than to cover a hitter's weaknesses.

[dgarza]

Felix Millan
An excellent fielder, with .281 batting average.
With his unusual batting stance (choking high up on the bat), Millan was known for rarely striking out. His AB/SO rate is the best in the NL from 1960-present.

All-Star Games
1969 (2B)
1970
1971 *

Gold Gloves
1969 NL (2B)
1972 NL (2B)

Putouts as 2B
1969 NL 373 (1st)

Assists as 2B
1969 NL 444 (1st)

Total Zone Runs as 2B
1969 NL 8 (1st)

[Los Bravos]

Ralph Garr

"The Roadrunner"

Parts of 8 years in Atlanta, 5 full (1971-1975)

.317/.350/.429 113 OPS+

An All-Star in 1974, a year in which he also won the batting title (.353) and led the league with 214 hits, including a league high 17 triples.

He stole at least 25 bases every year from '71 to '74.

He posted a WAR of 4.9 in both 1971 and 1974.

He's still with the organization as a regional scouting drector, a position he's held since 1985.