1916 Results - Stovey elected in closest voting ever

In the closest balloting in the 19-year history of the Hall of Merit, Harry Stovey was elected, outpointing Joe Kelley 667-665. It was a wild election, 11 candidates received a first-place vote and no candidate was named on every ballot. 44 voters sent in ballots for the 2nd consecutive year. Stovey was in his 18th year of eligibility and will be 60 in December. He’s the 3rd oldest player selected to the Hall of Merit (Joe Start was almost 70 and Cal McVey was a month shy of his 64th birthday when inducted).

The previous closest election was Bid McPhee defeating McVey 751-747 in 1913 (McVey was elected a year later). The only other election decided by less than 10 points was in 1906, when Al Spalding defeated Ezra Sutton by 8.5 points. Sutton was elected in 1908.

Kelley nearly closed a 21-point gap from the 1915 election. Stovey’s two extra first place votes (9 vs. 7) sealed the deal for him, despite his being left off three ballots (Kelley was left off two ballots).

First-year eligible Elmer Flick was right on Stovey and Kelley’s heels, with 651 points. Another first-timer finished 4th, Wee Willie Keeler finished with 619 points.

Charlie Bennett moved from 6th to 5th, moving past Jimmy Collins.

There was a lot of movement this year Joe McGinnity moved up a spot into 7th (he and several others passed Sam Thompson, who dropped off 6 ballots entirely, and fell from 7th to 10th place).

Bob Caruthers vaulted from 14th to 8th place, being named on eight more ballots this year. Frank Grant moved from 10th to 9th (despite dropping from 356 to 352 points) and Thompson rounded out the top 10.

Lip Pike also made a run, moving past Hugh Duffy, Jimmy Ryan and George Van Haltren into 11th place.

Other first-year eligibles to receive votes include Rube Waddell (12th), Addie Joss (21st), Vic Willis (22nd), Cy Seymour (tied for 37th), Deacon Phillippe (42nd) and Ginger Beaumont (43rd).

Rk   LY  Player             Pts Bal    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15
 1    3  Harry Stovey       667  41    9  4  6  3  3  1  2  2  2  1     3  2  3   
 2    4  Joe Kelley         665  42    7  3  3  6  2  4  4  3     4  2  2  1  1   
 3  n/e  Elmer Flick        651  40    4  5  4  4  9  3  2  3  1  3  1  1         
 4  n/e  Willie Keeler      619  41    5  5  3  3  2  4  4  3  2  2  3     2  2  1
 5    6  Charlie Bennett    586  33    9  8  2  3  1  1  3  2     1           3   
 6    5  Jimmy Collins      558  39    2  5  5  1  3  4     5  3  2  3  1  4     1
 7    8  Joe McGinnity      444  32    1  2  4  4     6  3     2     3  2  3  2   
 8   14  Bob Caruthers      379  31    2  2  1  3  1     2  2     1  6  3  3  2  3
 9   10  Frank Grant        352  29          1  3  4  3     2  3  2  2  2  4  2  1
10    7  Sam Thompson       345  24    1  2  4  4  2  1  1     2  1  1  2     1  2
11   13  Lip Pike           320  22    2  3  2  1  3     1  1  3  1  2     1     2
12  n/e  Rube Waddell       311  23       1  1  2  3  1  2  3  2  3  1  2  1  1   
13    9  Hugh Duffy         303  25             2  3     3  5  3  1  2  3  1     2
14   11  Jimmy Ryan         298  25                3  2  4  1  4  4  2  1  2  2   
15   12  George Van Haltren 271  23          1     1  5  1  2  2  2  2  3  1  3   
16   15  Jake Beckley       259  24          1  1  1     2  2  2  3  3  2  3  1  3
17   17  Dicky Pearce       244  18    2     1  2     3        2  3  1     4      
18   16  Hughie Jennings    236  19       3  1  1     1  1     3  4     1  1     3
19   18  Pete Browning      200  17          1     2  1  2  2  1  2  2        3  1
20   19  Clark Griffith     164  17                      1  1  2  2  2  4  1  3  1
21  n/e  Addie Joss         112  10          2           2  1        1        1  3
22  n/e  Vic Willis         101  13                         1        1  3     3  5
23   21  Cupid Childs        94  10.5        1              1  1           2  2  3.5
24   20  Jim McCormick       86   9                1  1        1  1        1     4
25   22  Mickey Welch        69   6.5     1           1        1              2  1.5
26   28  Lave Cross          55   6                            1     1  2  1  1   
27   24  Charley Jones       45   5                         1           2  1     1
28   30  Harry Wright        43   4                      1     1  1              1
29   25  John MGraw          42   3.5           1     1                       1   .5
30   23  Mike Tiernan        37   4.5                                   2  2      .5
31   32  Herman Long         29   3.5                                1  1     1   .5
32   26  Fielder Jones       23   3                                     1     2   
33   33  Tip O'Neill         21   2                   1                          1
34   27  Ed Williamson       17   2.5                                      1     1.5
35   29  Tony Mullane        16   2                                     1     1   
36   31  Mike Griffin        15   2                                        1  1   
37T n/e  Cy Seymour          14   1                      1                        
37T  34  Jim Whitney         14   1                      1                        
37T  36  Tommy Bond          14   1                      1                        
40   --  Tom York            13   1                         1                     
41   37  Levi Meyerle        10   1                                  1            
42  n/e  Deacon Phillippe     8   1                                        1      
43  n/e  Ginger Beaumont      6   1                                              1
Dropped Out: Jack Chesbro (#35), Bobby Mathews (#38T), Jesse Tannehill (#38T),
Silver King (#40).

Since the last results were announced, two great HoMers of the early 70s have passed away, Ross Barnes, age 64 (February 1915) and Al Spalding age 65 (September 1915).