1906 Results - Spalding Elected

Al Spalding, the greatest pitcher of the 1870s, has been elected to the Hall of Merit in the closest voting to date. He defeated Ezra Sutton, 758-749.5.

The voting system came into play here. If the balloting had been 15-14-13 . . . 3-2-1; Sutton would have won. If we didn’t give bonus points for ‘elect him’ votes, it would have been decided by 1/2 point (wow!); if we didn’t penalize not being on the ballot at all, he would have won. If it had been a 2 electee year, Sutton would obviously have been elected, that’s not noteworthy—but in a quirk, he also would have finished first, because he had 9 second place votes more than Spalding, and this was the first year without bonus points for a 2nd place vote.

Don’t take this as a complaint, I’m just pointing it out, and I think the system worked well. Sutton had two more people that voted him ‘in’, and 1 less that left him off the ballot completely, he deserves an edge for that.

Both saw big surges in their support this week, as they leapfrogged Pud Galvin and Bid McPhee, making this election a bit of an ‘upset’. Galvin edged McPhee 681-676 for 3rd place. Joe Start finished 5th. Cal McVey jumped over Harry Stovey into 6th place. Sam Thompson, Charlie Bennett and Pete Browning rounded out the top 10.

No one dropped out from 1905, and nine new players received a vote that didn’t last year, but only one was a new eligible (Gus Weyhing picked up one 15th place vote).

RK   LY Player          Pts   Ballots  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14   15
 1    5 Al Spalding     758     42.0  14  3  7  3     5  2  1  4        2          1
 2    6 Ezra Sutton     749.5   41.0  12 12  2  3  3  1     1  4           2  0.5  0.5
 3    3 Pud Galvin      681     42.0   2  6  9  8  5  4     2  1  1  1     2       1
 4    4 Bid McPhee      676     42.0   5  3  4  3  8  4  4  6  2  1  1  1
 5    7 Joe Start       660.5   41.0   4  6  4  8  3  5  5  1              2  2.5  0.5
 6    9 Cal McVey       613     39.0   3  4  8  4  5  4     1  2  3  1  2  1  1	
 7    8 Harry Stovey    592     41.0   1  5     3  8  2  6  4  4  4  2     2
 8   10 Sam Thompson    510     40.0   1  2  2  4     2  4  5  4  3  3  5  3  1    1
 9   11 Charlie Bennett 502     36.0   1  1  2  3  3  5  6  7     1  5        1    1
10   12 Pete Browning   380     34.0         2     1  2  2  2  5  3  7  6  1  1    2
11   13 Mike Tiernan    365     36.0      1        2  1  1  2  4  3  4  3  8  5    2
12   14 Bob Caruthers   314     28.0         2  2  1  2  2  3     1  3  3  1  7    1
13   15 Lip Pike        271     23.5            1  1  1  4  2  4  3  1  3     2    1.5
14   17 Jim McCormick   198     21.0         1        2  1     1  1  2  1  4  4    4
15   18 Ed Williamson   191     20.5                     1        6  5  1  3  1    3.5
16   16 Mike Griffin    185     19.0               1  1     2     3     4  4  3    1
17   19 Mickey Welch    155     17.0                  1  1     2  2  1     3  4    3
18   20 Dickey Pearce   111     11.0               1     1  1     1  2  2     1    2
19   23 Fred Dunlap      90     10.0            1              1  1  1     1  2    3
20   21 Tony Mullane     85     10.0                     1        2  1        3    3
21   24 Jim Whitney      76      7.0               1  1              2  2     1
22   27 Billy Nash       45      5.0                        1           2  1       1
23   22 Bud Fowler       44      4.0                        2  1                   1
24   25 Tip O'Neill      43      3.5                     2     1                   0.5
25   28 Charley Jones    41      4.5                              1  1  1  1       0.5
26   -- Tom York*        32      5.0                                       1       4
27   26 Jack Clements    32      3.0                           1  1     1
28   31 Dave Foutz       23      2.0                           1  1
29T  -- Ed McKean        17      2.0                                    1  1
29T  -- Jack Stivetts    17      2.0                                    1  1
31   30 Denny Lyons      16      2.0                                    1     1
32   -- Tommy Bond*      12      2.0                                               2
33   33 Levi Meyerle     12      1.0                           1
34   -- Jim Creighton    11      1.0                              1
35   -- Harry Wright      9      1.0                                    1
36   32 Bill Hutchison    8      1.0                                       1
37T  29 Bill Joyce        7      1.0                                          1
37T  -- George Stovey     7      1.0                                          1
39T  34 Dave Orr          6      1.0                                               1
39T  -- Bobby Mathews     6      1.0                                               1
39T n/a Gus Weyhing       6      1.0                                               1
*won tie-breaker (head-to-head on individual ballots)
Dropped Out: None.