Sorry about being late again, but weekends have been busy lately. And this may be the first time I wasn't swayed by some argument to change my ballot radically between preliminary and final...

1. Dan Brouthers, 1B, similar to Frank Thomas (poor fielder, awsome hitter). May have been best player until Cobb came along.
2. Buck Ewing, C, Comp is Bill Dickey. Was thought to have been the best player until Ty Cobb.
3. Jack Glasscock, SS, Value similar to Luke Appling.
4. Charlie Bennett, C, Comp is Roy Campanella.
5. Sam Thompson, RF, Harry Heilmann to an T (or an "H") Another great hitter who's fielding was adequate at best.
6. Al Spalding, P, Top NA pitcher. Comp is Dizzy Dean.
7. Hardy Richardson, 2B, Comp is Tony Lazzeri, who also played when 3B was a more demanding defensive position.
8. Charley Radbourn, P, Very comparable to Keefe, who is in HOM. Similar to Bert Blyleven with a greater peak.
9. Pete Browning, CF/LF - Hits like Joe Jackson, fields like Greg Luzinski playing CF.
10. Cal McVey, C, Modern Comp: Gene Tenace, only better.
11. Harry Stovey, LF/1B, Comp is Albert Belle.
12. Bob Caruthers, P/RF, Combination of Carl Mays & Gavvy Cravath.
13. Ned Williamson, 3B, Best comp may be Jeff Kent with Bill Mazeroski's defense.
14. Joe Start, 1B, Finally convinced to add him to the ballot this time. Similar to Tony Perez.
15. Ezra Sutton, 3B, Best comp - Miller Huggins.

Sorry about being late again

Happy you made it!

I take it you don't think Honus Wagner's better than Ty Cobb KJOK? :)

Wow. I count 42 ballots for this week. A new record.

Okay, so I was looking at the result and -- tell the truth now -- some of you just decided to vote in alphabetical order, right?

Bennett, Brouthers, Browning? Pete's support is way up, and I really thought Brouthers would finish first. Bennett really won that catchers debate. :)

"I take it you don't think Honus Wagner's better than Ty Cobb KJOK? :) "

No, I didn't mean to disrespect Wagner, but I'm not sure that the fans at the time actually thought that Wagner was BETTER than Cobb, but perhaps they did...

I'm not sure that the fans at the time actually thought that Wagner was BETTER than Cobb

About a decade from now, it may be the hottest debate in baseball (after Merkle becomes old news). It's got interesting side-issues rolled into it, too; fielding vs hitting; NL vs AL quality.

Wouldn't put Spalding in the same class with Anson from a character point of view. It's one thing to be a power-wielding capitalist (a/k/a anti-labor); quite another to be a strident racist. Glasscock is in between, since he seems to have openly betrayed his teammates/friends.

Not advocating some of the strong-arm techniques used by Spalding to control the NL, but just don't think they are all on the same plane.

Your point is interesting though.

363 - 42, 34, 33 - 156 - Harry Stovey - 12.6 sea. - 318 batting - 45 fielding. Sorry for this error, and nice catch . . . I'll fix this on the original thread too.

The 55 WS for his best season is what threw me for a loop. That was just a little too dominating of a season for Harry to really have had.

Thanks to Jim, this thread is restored.