2013 Results: Bonds, Clemens, Piazza and Biggio are elected to the Hall of Merit!

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza and Craig Biggio have been elected to the Hall of Merit!

The timing for our first year electing 4 candidates could not have worked out better, since class of 2013 is the strongest in terms of electees that we’ve ever had. The top of the 1934 ballot included Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins, Pop Lloyd, Smokey Joe Williams and Cristobal Torriente, but only 2 were elected.

Bonds and Clemens were each unanimous at 1 and 2. I believe that’s the first ...

2012 Results: Palmeiro… Reuschel… Cone… for the Hall of Merit!

Slugging first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, in his second year of eligibility, was the top vote-getter this election by grabbing 70% of all possible points.

NL hurler Rick Reuschel was number two this year with 49% after 17 years on a ballot, while Met and Yankee pitcher David Cone became the last inductee of 2012 with 44% in his sixth year of eligibility.

Rounding out the top-ten were: Phil Rizzuto, Luis Tiant, Cannonball Dick Redding, Hugh Duffy, Gavvy Cravath (back in the top-ten!), Vic Willis ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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, ...

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.

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 03 April 2013.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Most Meritorious Player: 1979 Results

In an election that saw five different candidates receive first-place ballots, Fred Lynn secured a victory on points, with a twenty-point advantage over the runner-up. Congratulations to Lynn, the 1979 Most Meritorious Player!

               1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    Pts
Lynn           7    2    2              1                                           169
Porter, D      2    4    1         3         1    1                                 149
Brett ...

Most Meritorious Player: 1978 Results

Congratulations to New York Yankee Ron Guidry, 1978’s Most Meritorious Player. Guidry garnered nine of thirteen possible first-place votes.

                 1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10     11    12     13     Pts
Guidry           9     3           1                                                              189
Rice                   6     4     2                 1                                            169
Parker           1     2     4     1     1     2     1 ...

Most Meritorious Player: 1979 Discussion

Pirates sweep the Reds in the NLCS.  Earl Weaver’s Orioles beat the Angels in the ALCS. The Pirates beat the Orioles in the World Series in seven games.

MMP voting will end on March 06 2013.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Lynn, Fred		34.4		8.6
Thomas, Gorman		25.9		4.5
Lemon, Chet		25.3		5.6
Winfield, Dave		32.7		8.1
Singleton, Ken		31.7		5.0
Parker, Dave		30.7		6.5
Baylor, Don		28.5		3.5
Lezcano, Sixto		27.2		5.4
Rice, Jim		28.0		6.1
Wilson, Willie		23.6		6.0
Foster, George		21.9		4.9
Cruz, ...

Most Meritorious Player: 1978 Ballot

For 1978, each voter should rank their top 13 players from both leagues combined.

Balloting will close at 4pm EST on 06 February 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 04 February 2013.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Luis Gonzalez and Steve Finley

Luis Gonzalez is eligible in 2014. Steve Finley was eligible in 2012.

David Wells and Kenny Rogers

Wells was eligible in 2013. Rogers is eligible in 2014.

Jeff Kent

eligible in 2014

Mike Mussina

eligible in 2014

Tom Glavine

eligible in 2014

Frank Thomas

eligible in 2014

Greg Maddux

eligible in 2014

Most Meritorious Player: 2012 Results

Congratulations to 2012’s Most Meritorious Player, the Angels’ Mike Trout, who fell one vote shy of a unanimous victory.

                     1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   Pts
Trout, Mike          8       1                                                         133
Posey, Buster            6   2               1                                         119
Cano, Robinson           2   2   4   1                                                 113
McCutchen, ...

2013 Hall of Merit Plaques

Once more, thanks to theorioleway for writing and rwagman for proofing these.

Click for the complete plaque room.

Barry Bonds - 2013 - LF
18.8 seasons with Pittsburgh (NL) 1986-1992; San Francisco (NL) 1993-2007
Cap: San Francisco Giants (NL)
Like his godfather Willie Mays, Barry Bonds’ impact on baseball left many in awe. Widely considered as one of the best players of all-time, he was unanimously placed first on every Hall of Merit ballot in his first year of consideration. A great ...

2012 Hall of Merit Plaques

Here are the 2012 Hall of Merit plaques! Thanks to theorioleway for writing them up and to rwagman for proofing them.

Click for the complete plaque room.

Rafael Palmeiro - 2012 - 1B
17.9 seasons with Chicago (NL) 1987-1988; Texas (AL) 1989-1993, 1999-2003; Baltimore (AL) 1994-1998, 2004-2005
Cap: Texas Rangers (AL)
The Cuban-born Rafael Palmeiro was one of the best 1B in the game during 1990s, a player who was remarkable for his consistency. From 1993-2003 (excluding the strike-shortened 1994 ...

2011 Hall of Merit Plaques

Thanks to theorioleway for writing these! And to Ryan Wagman for proofing them. 2012 and 2013 will be posted as well.

Click for the complete plaque room.

Jeff Bagwell - 2011 - 1B
13.6 seasons with: Houston (NL) 1991-2005
Cap: Houston Astros (NL)
The greatest player in the history of the Houston franchise, Bagwell was consistently the best all-around first baseman during the 1990s. ‘Bags’ combined exceptional plate discipline (.408 career OBP) with great power (.540 lifetime SLG) to be one of ...

2014 Hall of Merit Ballot Discussion

2014 (December 2, 2013)—elect 3
WS WAR Name-Pos

398 96.9 Greg Maddux-P
405 75.9 Frank Thomas-DH/1B
314 71.6 Tom Glavine-P
270 74.6 Mike Mussina-P
339 59.4 Jeff Kent-2B
318 46.3 Luis Gonzalez-LF
206 46.3 Kenny Rogers-P
277 38.2 Moises Alou-LF/RF
231 32.7 Ray Durham-2B
179 34.4 Tom Gordon-RP*
186 24.3 Mark Grudzielanek-2B/SS*
125 21.2 Steve Trachsel-P
156 19.8 Shannon Stewart-LF
128 17.7 Armando Benitez-RP
113 21.4 Jon Lieber-P
156 15.8 Sean Casey-1B
129 22.0 Jose Cruz-CF/RF
115 20.1 Keith ...

Most Meritorious Player: 1978 Discussion

Hello to Ron Guidry and goodbye too early to Lyman Bostock.

A Yankees - Royals rematch in the ALCS and Dodgers - Phillies again in the NLCS. The Yankees beat the Dodgers the World Series in six games again as well.

MMP voting will end on February 6, 2012.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Parker, Dave		36.8		6.9
Rice, Jim		36.0		7.4
Simmons, Ted		28.3		5.3
Smalley, Roy		21.5		5.7
Otis, Amos		29.3		7.1
Clark, Jack		28.0		5.8
Cey, Ron		25.2		5.1
Madlock, Bill		23.4		4.6
Randolph, ...

2013 BBTF Hall of Fame Election Results

If BBTF voted instead of the BBWAA, we would have elected Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Craig Biggio, Alan Trammell and Curt Schilling. Mark McGwire game up 4 votes shy of the 67 required. The average voter had 9.71 players per ballot.

2013 BBTF Hall of Fame Ballot

IMPORTANT: Please read:

This election should follow BBWAA rules, not Hall of Merit rules. However, we hope to see only players that each voter feels belong on their ballots - if you don’t feel he really is a HOFer, then please refrain from posting that player’s name (examples of whom I am referring to are Mookie Wilson, Scott Brosius, Buddy Biancalana - players who were well liked or were underdogs, but have no creditable HOF resume). Leaving 1st-year candidates off your ballot is also ...

Help Wanted!

Hey guys, as I mentioned earlier, John Murphy has retired from the Hall of Merit in terms of day-to-day (or even year-to-year) support.

Anyone interested in picking up the torch?

Tasks include, but are not limited to: Posting threads (new eligibles, discussion, ballot, results, individuals of note - am I missing any others?); typing in the compiled results (which is a nightmare); maintaining the list of links.

Regarding the HoM Plaque Room, a curator is needed for it.

Also, most pressing, ...