1917 Results - Young and Clarke Elected

In a year where records fell, perhaps the biggest was that Cy Young became the first player to receive unanimous support as the top choice for the Hall of Merit. The election was a complete turn-around from 1916’s wide open affair as Young was named first on all 45 ballots.

Fred Clarke was also elected in his first year of eligibility, easily outpacing Elmer Flick, 920-643. 31 of 45 voters had Clarke as their second choice.

Flick easily jumped past Joe Kelley, who had been the top returning candidate, 643-586. Kelley missed election in 1916 by 2 points. This time, he just squeaked by Willie Keeler, who rounded out the top 5 with 582 points. Flick is now the front-runner for 1918, when only one candidate will be elected.

Jimmy Collins who finished 7th, is closing the gap on Charlie Bennett. Bennett beat Collins by 26 points in 1916, Collins closed the gap to 11 points this year.

Joe McGinnity, Bob Caruthers and Frank Grant rounded out the top 10. Grant actually tied with Sam Thompson for the 10 spot, and won the tie-breaker. Caruthers lost a little of the momentum he had been building, he was left off 18 ballots this year, he was only excluded from 13 in 1916.

A few other records fell this year. 45 people voted in the election, and 50 candidates received at least one vote.

RK   LY  Player             Pts Ballots   1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15
 1  n/e  Cy Young          1080    45    45  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0
 2  n/e  Fred Clarke        920    45     0 31  4  2  2  1  2  0  0  0  0  2  1  0  0
 3    3  Elmer Flick        643    44     0  1  9  2  5  7  4  6  3  4  0  2  0  1  0
 4    2  Joe Kelley         586    41     0  0 10  4  5  3  5  3  1  0  5  4  0  0  1
 5    4  Willie Keeler      582    40     0  3  4  7  4  2  5  4  3  2  0  2  3  0  1
 6    5  Charlie Bennett    496    32     0  3  7  5  4  2  1  3  3  1  0  0  2  0  1
 7    6  Jimmy Collins      485    39     0  0  2  5  4  6  1  3  3  2  3  0  2  5  3
 8    7  Joe McGinnity      398    32     0  1  0  6  1  2  6  1  2  1  2  2  3  3  2
 9    8  Bob Caruthers      326    27     0  1  1  4  2  0  1  2  3  0  2  6  2  1  2
10    9  Frank Grant        322    29     0  0  0  2  2  2  3  2  2  3  2  3  1  4  3
11   10  Sam Thompson       322    23     0  2  1  2  4  3  1  3  1  0  1  2  1  2  0
12   12  Rube Waddell       293    25     0  0  0  1  2  4  2  3  1  3  2  1  1  5  0
13   13  Hugh Duffy         250    22     0  0  0  0  2  3  1  1  4  4  0  1  3  3  0
14   11  Lip Pike           240    19     0  0  3  2  1  2  1  1  0  3  1  1  1  1  2
15   15  George Van Haltren 232    21     0  0  0  0  0  2  2  3  1  2  5  3  3  0  0
16   18  Hughie Jennings    227    18     0  1  1  1  2  1  0  2  2  1  3  1  2  0  1
17   16  Jake Beckley       219    22     0  0  0  0  1  0  2  1  1  2  6  0  6  2  1
18   14  Jimmy Ryan         217    21     0  0  0  0  1  0  0  2  3  5  2  3  3  1  1
19   17  Dicky Pearce       167    13     0  1  1  0  1  1  2  1  1  0  2  1  0  1  1
20   19  Pete Browning      161    15     0  0  1  1  0  2  0  0  2  2  0  1  2  1  3
21   20  Clark Griffith     123    13     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  2  2  2  5  0  0  2
22   21  Addie Joss         116    10     0  0  0  1  0  1  2  1  0  0  2  0  2  1  0
23   25  Mickey Welch        85     8     0  0  1  0  1  0  1  0  0  0  1  0  1  1  2
24  n/e  Frank Chance        77     7     0  0  0  0  1  0  1  1  0  1  1  0  0  1  1
25   22  Vic Willis          59     7     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  0  1  0  2  2
26  n/e  Sol White           59     6     0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  1  1  0  0  1  1  1
27   23  Cupid Childs        56     7     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  1  0  0  1  1  3
28   24  Jim McCormick       48     6     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  1  0  0  0  1  3
29   29  John McGraw         41     3     0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  1
30   28  Harry Wright        37     3     0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  1  0  0  0  0  0
31   27  Charley Jones       36     4     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  1  1  1  0
32   31  Herman Long         26     3     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  0  0  1
33   26  Lave Cross          23     3     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  1  0  1
34  n/e  Roy Thomas          22     3     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  1
35   37T Jim Whitney         18     2     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  1
36   30  Mike Tiernan        15     2     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  1  0
37   --  Denny Lyons         14     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0
38   32  Fielder Jones       13     2     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  1
39   33  Tip O'Neill         13     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0
40   40  Tom York            11     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0
41T  41  Levi Meyerle        10     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0
41T  --  Silver King         10     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0
41T n/e  Harry Davis         10     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0
44   37T Tommy Bond           8     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0
45T  34  Ed Williamson        7     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0
45T  37T Cy Seymour           7     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0
45T  --  Fred Dunlap          7     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0
48T  36  Mike Griffin         6     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1
48T  42  Deacon Philippe      6     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1
48T n/e  Topsy Hartsel        6     1     0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1
Dropped Out: Tony Mullane (#35), Ginger Beaumont (#43).