Hall of Merit

Welcome to the Baseball Hall of Merit!

What is the Baseball Hall of Merit? A pantheon conceived of by our founder and commissioner Joe Dimino as an alternative to the Baseball Hall of Fame located in Cooperstown. Our purpose is to identify the best players in baseball history and thereby identify the omissions and errors that can be found in the other venerable institution.

Established in 2003, the HoM welcomes any new voters who are serious about inducting the most worthy candidates from all eras and positions.

Annual elections will be held around December of each year. Prior to December of 2007, retroactive elections were held once or twice a month starting from 1898 up to the present.

Project coordinator John Murphy helps run the day-to-day activities for the HoM.

The Baseball Hall of Merit Plaque Room - Where we honor the greatest players of all-time.

2012 Election Results, 2011 Election Results - The results from our last two elections.

Important links thread that includes all election results, ballot threads and discussion threads.

Important Links thread that used to be stickied on the Hall of Merit home page, but is not any longer. Keeping this link in case someone was using it, but I think everything should be at the link with the election results.

This page was edited by Joe D 11/20/2012.

The Baseball Hall of Merit: Important Links

IMPORTANT: If a link is inoperable, please use this link to locate the thread in question: Hall of Merit Archives
This eventually will be the only place to locate old and new threads once we set up the categorization process.

Finally, a consolidated home page, with all of our important links.

The Hall of Merit Plaque Room - Where we honor the greatest players of all-time.

Our Constitution - The rules we’ve set up. Something Better - the article that introduced all of this.

Positional Threads (which will be updated . . . ) Pennants Added - combining peak and career value.

New Eligibles by Year - who’s eligible this ‘year’? Number of Electees by Year

Links to discussions of Negro League Stars

Links to discussions of Latino Stars

Discussion on Estimating the Quality of League Play

Election Results: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950, 1949, 1948, 1947, 1946, 1945, 1944, 1943, 1942, 1941, 1940, 1939, 1938, 1937, 1936, 1935, 1934, 1933, 1932, 1931, 1930, 1929, 1928, 1927, 1926, 1925, 1924, 1923, 1922, 1921, 1920, 1919, 1918, 1917, 1916, 1915, 1914, 1913, 1912, 1911, 1910, 1909, 1908, 1907, 1906, 1905, 1904, 1903, 1902, 1901, 1900, 1899, 1898 Note the 2012 results are linked in comment 18 below. The link will not work from this portion of the post for some reason.

Ballot Threads: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950, 1949, 1948, 1947, 1946, 1945, 1944, 1943, 1942, 1941, 1940, 1939, 1938, 1937, 1936, 1935, 1934, 1933, 1932, 1931, 1930, 1929, 1928, 1927, 1926, 1925, 1924, 1923, 1922, 1921, 1920, 1919, 1918, 1917, 1916, 1915, 1914, 1913, 1912, 1911, 1910, 1909, 1908, 1907, 1906, 1905, 1904, 1903, 1902, 1901, 1900, 1899, 1898

Ballot Discussion Threads: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950, 1949, 1948, 1947, 1946, 1945, 1944, 1943, 1942, 1941, 1940, 1939, 1938, 1937, 1936, 1935, 1934, 1933, 1932, 1931, 1930, 1929, 1928, 1927, 1926, 1925, 1924, 1923, 1922, 1921, 1920, 1919, 1918, 1917, 1916, 1915, 1914, 1913, 1912, 1911, 1910, 1909, 1908, 1907, 1906, 1905, 1904, 1903, 1902, 1901, 1900, 1899, 1898

Most Meritorious Player (MMP) rules discussion

MMP Election Results: 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961

MMP Ballot Threads: 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961

MMP Discussion Threads: 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961

Season by season recaps: 1876, 1875, 1874, 1873, 1872, 1871

2005 Hall of Fame Ballot
2005 HOF Results
2006 Hall of Fame Ballot
2006 Hall of Fame Ballot Discussion
2006 HOF Results

Amendment to cover new voters and challenges to ballots
Battle of the Uber-Stat Systems (Win Shares vs. WARP)!
Credits and Deductions for WW II Players
Discussion of changing the number of electees by year
Discussion of Negro League candidates
Discussion of Token Appearances
Do we need a Centennial Commission?
50th Anniversary Team
The Greatest Player Ever?
Hall of Fame’s 2006 Negro League Election
The HoM Half Time Show!
Let’s get to know each other
Major League Equivalencies
Negro League Win Shares Estimates
Pennants Added 2.0 (Updated For the 1949 Ballot)
Pennants Added Pitchers (Updated For the 1949 Ballot)
Reevaluating Negro League Pitchers
Register to vote
Relief Pitchers
2B vs. 3B before 1920
Selected 19th Century Players
Selected 20th Century Players
Term Limits or Perpetual Eligibility For Candidates?
Voters Personal Halls of Merit

Most Meritorious Player: 1981 Results

Congratulations to our unanimous MMP Mike Schmidt! I don’t have a template set up for putting results in a tabular format but figured we needed results posted.

Player  		pts	ballots	1sts	   
Mike Schmidt		165	11	11	   
Dwight Evans		146	11	0	   
Rickey Henderson	131	11	0	   
Andre Dawson		128	11	0	   
Bobby Grich		112	11	0	   
Fernando Valenzuela	84	9	0	   
Robin Yount		72	8	0	   
Buddy Bell 		56	6	0	   
George Foster		49	9	0	   
Steve McCatty		48	7	0	   
Nolan Ryan	        47	7	0	   
Steve Carlton		46	7	0	   
Dwayne Murphy		37	5	0	   
Cecil Cooper		32	5	0	   
Dave Concepcion		24	4	0	   
Rollie Fingers		19	4	0	   
Gary Carter        	17	2	0	   
Rick Burleson		16	3	0	   
Bert Blyleven		13	3	0	   
Eddie Murray		11	2	0	   
Keith Hernandez		8	2	0	   
Tom Seaver		7	1	0	   
Tom Paciorek		6	1	0	   
Tim Raines              5	1	0	   
Burt Hooton 		5	1	0	   
Tony Armas		3	1	0

Most Meritorious Player: 1982 Discussion

Harvey’s Wallbangers lose to Whitey’s Cardinals in a more typical season.

MMP voting will end on June 6 2013.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Yount, Robin		39.1		10.5
Schmidt, Mike		35.9		7.4
Murphy, Dale		32.1		6.1
Carter, Gary		32.5		8.6
Evans, Dwight		30.6		6.4
Henderson, Rickey	27.6		6.7
Morgan, Joe		27.9		5.1
Cooper, Cecil		29.5		5.6
Murray, Eddie		29.1		5.2
Guerrero, Pedro		29.6		6.8
Lezcano, Sixto		26.9		5.9
Molitor, Paul		30.0		6.2
Harrah, Toby		28.7		6.5
DeCinces, Doug		27.1		7.6
Brett, George		26.5		6.0
Bell, Buddy		24.7		5.6
Dawson, Andre		25.9		7.9
Thomas, Gorman		24.8		4.9
Ripken, Cal		23.3		4.7
Thon, Dickie		22.3		6.1
Smith, Ozzie		19.6		5.0
Whitaker, Lou		21.6		5.5
Smith, Lonnie		25.7		6.1
Wilson, Willie		24.3		6.3
Downing, Brian		24.2		5.6
Murphy, Dwayne		23.9		5.9
Durham, Leon		25.1		4.6
Clark, Jack		25.0		4.0
Brunansky, Tom		18.2		5.6
Thompson, Jason		26.9		4.7
Oliver, Al		25.9		5.2
Hernandez, Keith	24.5		4.5
McRae, Hal		26.2		4.2
Kennedy, Terry		26.9		4.6
Parrish, Lance		24.5		5.1


Pitcher 		SH WS		BBR WAR
Stieb, Dave		24.9		7.7
Niekro, Joe		24.4		6.1
Carlton, Steve		24.2		6.2
Rogers, Steve		23.4		7.7
Andujar, Joaquin	22.3		5.5
Sutcliffe, Rick		20.2		5.7
Valenzuela, Fernando	20.0		5.4
Soto, Mario		19.8		7.7
Palmer Jim		19.7		4.8
Clancy, Jim		19.6		5.0

Quisenberry, Dan	21.6		3.4
Spillner, Dan		20.7		4.4
Stanley, Bob		20.3		4.5
Minton, Greg		19.8		5.5
Gossage, Rich		17.3		4.5
Caudill, Bill		19.4		4.5

Most Meritorious Player: 1981 Ballot

For 1981, each voter should rank their top 13 players from both leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EST on 02 May 2013.

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 01 May 2013.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Most Meritorious Player: 1980 Results

Congratulations to George Brett, 1980’s Most Meritorious Player. He led the balloting throughout the election, in a vote marked by a high degree of consenuse for the top three places.

                    1  2   3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  Pts
Brett               8  2   1                                    161
Schmidt             3  7   1                                    156
Carlton, Steve         2   8           1                        141
Henderson, Rickey          1  6     1  3                        119
Carter, Gary                  1     2  2  1  1       4           85
Wilson, Willie                1  2  2  1             1   1   1   75
Randolph, Willie                 3     1  2      2       1       74
Norris, Mike                  1  2     1  2  1                   66
Yount, Robin                        3        1   1   2       1   56
Hernandez, Keith                    1     1  3   1   1       1   53
Cooper, Cecil                    3     1         1       1       52
Oglivie, Ben                  1     1        2   1       1   2   52
Bumbry, Al                    1  1     1  1      1               46
Jackson, Reggie                     1  1  1      1   1   1       42
Simmons                                1             1       1   17
Dawson, Andre                                1           1   2   17
Murphy, Dale                                     2       1       16
Burns, Britt                           1                 1       13
Gura, Larry                                              2   1   11
Corbett, Doug                                    1   1           11
Quisenberry, Dan                             1                    7
White, Frank                                 1                    7
Reuss, Jerry                                             1        4
Bell, Buddy                                                  1    3
Sutton, Don                                                  1    3

The NL’s MMP was Mike Schmidt. The NL’s Most Meritorious Pitcher was Steve Carlton. Mike Norris was voted the AL’s top pitcher.

Most Meritorious Player: 1981 Discussion

The strike, differences in games played by team and the goofy playoff system for 1981 will make evaluations more complicated than most seasons.

MMP voting will end on May 2 2013.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Schmidt, Mike		29.9		7.7
Evans, Dwight		25.8		6.7
Thomas, Gorman		20.1		3.1
Armas, Tony		17.9		4.2
Dawson, Andre		24.9		7.4
Murphy, Dwayne		20.3		4.3
Grich, Bobby		20.8		5.4
Henderson, Rickey	26.7		6.6
Yount, Robin		20.0		4.9
Burleson, Rick		17.2		4.5
Concepcion, David	20.3		3.7
Foster, George		24.4		3.6
Bell, Buddy		18.0		6.2
Trammell, Alan		14.2		3.8
Murray, Eddie		21.0		3.8
Hernandez, Keith	19.9		4.2
Cooper, Cecil		22.3		3.8
Carter, Gary		18.0		3.8
Sundberg, Jim		17.1		4.0
Kemp, Steve		17.3		3.8
Paciorek, Tom				4.3

Pitcher 		SH WS		BBR WAR
Valenzuela, Fernando	16.7		5.3
McCatty, Steve		18.0		4.6
Blyleven, Bert		14.6		5.6
Carlton, Steve		15.8		5.5
Ryan, Nolan		14.6		5.1
Stieb, Dave		14.5		4.5
Righetti, Dave		10.3		3.5
Knepper, Bob		12.9		3.7
Seaver, Tom		16.1		4.4
Reuss, Jerry		13.4		4.3
Hooton, Burt		12.8		3.7
Morris, Jack		15.4		3.4
Leonard, Dennis		13.6		3.4
Burns, Britt		11.4		4.0
Gura, Larry		13.1		3.7


Fingers, Rollie		17.2		4.3
Camp, Rick		13.9		2.6

So long

This is an explanation of the disappearing content from Sox Therapy and an announcement of a new blog, Replacement Level Red Sox (www.replacementlevelredsox.com). Darren, Jose, Matt(bert) and I have decided to start a blog, and we are moving our blogging over there. It’s been great writing here at Sox Therapy, thanks to Jim for giving up the platform and the opportunity, thanks to y’all for making this community a fun place to write. We just felt that we’d like to take a shot at blogging at a place that was really ours, so now we do. It’s a loss to move on from ST, but hopefully the new place will be good too, and obviously it will be all the better if y’all want to come by. This isn’t goodbye, we’ll be around, but we’ll be blogging over at RLRS now.

The blog began with the CFBPS 2013, and we’ve been posting spring training reports, game threads, and near-hourly Jackie Bradley Jr. updates. All the fun of the blog, in a new, redder, differently url’d home.

Happy Opening Day!

Most Meritorious Player: 1980 Ballot

For 1980, each voter should rank their top 13 players from both leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EST on 04 April 2013.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Opening Day Roster

Lots of Sox Therapy posts lately but I’ll add another one since with Opening Day just two weeks away I think it’s time we had an Opening Day Roster thread. Things are starting to fall into shape with injuries and performances clearing up some open questions. David Ortiz’ injury is the one that’s going to get the headlines but with yesterday’s Boston.com story about Stephen Drew I think we have to acknowledge that our Opening Day shortstop is going to be someone other than Drew.

With that in mind here is one man’s pass at an Opening Day roster (note this is a guess, not a wish);

1B – Mike Napoli
2B – Dustin Pedroia
3B – Will Middlebrooks
SS – Jose Iglesias
LF – Jonny Gomes
CF – Jacoby Ellsbury
RF – Shane Victorino
C – Jarrod Saltalamacchia
1B – Mike Carp
UTIL – Pedro Ciriaco
OF – Ryan Sweeney
OF – Daniel Nava
C – David Ross
Notable DL – David Ortiz, Stephen Drew
Notable Minor Leagues - Ryan Lavarnway, Brock Holt, Mauro Gomez

There are two meaningful decisions to be made it seems. I think Sweeney is well-regarded enough by the club and has played well enough (.265/.359/.294) that the club would prefer not to lose him so he has the inside track on the OF/DH slot that is freed up in Ortiz’ absence. The other one is the backup first baseman. I go back and forth on this one between Carp and Overbay and I think Carp by virtue of youth and the fact that he was traded for probably gets the gig. I think Overbay is a better fit as a superior defensive first baseman though.

One guy I want to mention is Juan Carlos Linares (.345/.355/.586). Sample sizes and opposition quality issues impact all Spring numbers of course but Linares doesn’t seem to be on the radar. Frankly I’d love to see him take the DH role for the first couple of weeks and see what happens. I’ve been a fanboy of his for awhile though so take that for what it’s worth.

I think Iglesias gets sent down upon Drew’s return.

Pitchers

SP – Jon Lester, Ryan Dempster, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey, Felix Doubront
RP – Joel Hanrahan, Andrew Bailey, Junichi Tazawa, Koji Uehara, Alfredo Aceves, Andrew Miller, Clayton Mortensen
Notable DL – Craig Breslow, Franklin Morales
Notable Minor Leagues - Daniel Bard

I think the Sox like Mortensen enough that he’ll be kept since he is out of options (according to Sox Prospects). It’s a bit frustrating that Bard and Tazawa are quite possibly the two best relievers the Sox have yet they also are likely to be on the Pawtucket shuttle by virtue of having options.

The return of Morales and/or Breslow is going to make things hinky if there isn’t an injury or a trade before they return. I would not be the least bit surprised if Aceves is dealt before Opening Day.

I don’t think that Allen Webster’s great Spring has vaulted him into serious consideration for a spot to start the season but I think a good start as a starter in Pawtucket will put him a bit higher on the depth chart when an injury to a starter happens.

Inevitably every time I go through an exercise like this I miss someone obvious. I look forward to someone pointing out “hey, you missed this guy you idiot.”