Everyone's still out of town?

I'll post mine shortly.

1) Willie Mays - Very, very close to Robby, but playing CF and the Giants winning the pennant nudge him to the top spot.

2) Frank Robinson - See #1 - best ML right fielder by far.

3) Mickey Mantle - He missed 139 games and still dominated the AL. If he had played a full season, the Mick could have been the best in the majors.

4) Tommy Davis - Most likely an expansion-year outlier season for him, but it still counts.

5) Hank Aaron - Not that far off from Davis. There's an argument to be made he should be #4 instead.

6) Maury Wills - He rates this spot based on how he helped his team, not on breaking Cobb's record.

7) Hank Aguirre - Best ML pitcher by my analysis.

8) John Romano - I have him in a tie with Purkey - I'll give it to Romano because I love his hitting as a backstop and to give the AL a little help on this ballot. :-)

9) Bob Purkey - Top NL hurler for '62, IMO.

10) Eddie Mathews - Mister Underrated at the hot corner back then, he was still the best at that position in the majors yet again.

1) Willie Mays - Close to Robinson as a hitter, better fielder gives him the edge
2) Frank Robinson - Fantastic season
3) Mickey Mantle - Would have repeated except for injury
4) Henry Aaron - another outstanding season
5) Hank Aguirre - Terrific rate production offsets his bad bat. Run prevention trumps run production
6) Brooks Robinson - Very good season for Brooks and the AL was stronger this year.
7) Turk Farrell - My vote for best NL pitcher
8) Bob Gibson - Good hitting moves him above innings eaters Spahn, Purkey and Drysdale
9) Maury Wills - Not as good as the baseball card stats would have you believe but still outstanding
10) Camilo Pascual - Lots of good pitching seasons in 1962

1. Willie Mays. In 1961 it seemed obvious that Frank Robinson was the MVP. I mean, his team won. Nobody seemed to dissent. But in hindsight it seems that Willie Mays was the best player in the NL. In 1962 the Dodgers were the big story. If anybody dissented from the choice of Maury Wills, it was generally to support Tommy Davis. But, hey (or, rather, say hey), Mays' team won the pennant! Where was the respect? I mean, the guy played 159 games, drove in 141 runs, led the league with 40 HR and 382 total bases, and scored 130 runs. Frank Robinson had his best year (by raw numbers) and Mays was clearly better. People talk about Mantle missing out on MVP awards because of unrealistic expectations, etc., but the same certainly could be said of Willie Mays.

2. Frank Robinson. This is, by the way, with a 5 percent discount due to NL expansion.

3. Tommy Davis.

4. Mickey Mantle. Nobody much questioned Mantle's '62 MVP award at the time despite the fact that he missed 39 games. This goes to Mantle's brilliance but also to the weakness of the AL. The AL expansion discount drops to 2.5 percent, and to zero next year.

5. Hank Aaron.

6. Maury Wills. This might be too high.

7. Norm Siebern. For a long time, I had him as the MVP. No more, but still it was a hell of a season.

8. Orlando Cepeda.

9. Harmon Killebrew.

10. Rocky Colavito.

11. Vada Pinson.

12. Floyd Robinson.

13. Don Drysdale.

14. Eddie Matthews.

15. Bob Purkey.

3 votes in a week, election closes next Wednesday. There are only 8 additional prelim ballots in the discussion thread.

Is the project over in the 2nd election?

I'm struggling with both the top TEN (only 5 guys really struck me as any kind of candidates), and the length of discussion time. Also having to do a prelim ballot, which many people enjoyed doing re HOM but which was not my habit.

1. WILLIE MAYS – When Mays hits just like Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson (an incredible trio, btw), he’s unbeatable. He leaves the Giants with two more OF spots to fill with power bats, ideally. This is Willie’s career year in RBI with 141 (next highest, 127, 123, 112). Steals 18 bases in 20 tries just to rub it in.
2. FRANK ROBINSON – His 3rd consecutive year of 1.000+ OPS. Wow. 2nd of 4 straight years leading NL in IBB. Never realized F-Rob only 40+ HR once (hit 39 this year). This is his lone 50+ 2B year. Played 162 games, like Willie. Off-year in SB, 18 for 27. I’ll forgive it.
3. HANK AARON – 45 HR, 128 RBI, 127 R – and led the league in no category, including those. Just the 7th of 10 consecutive 150+ OPS+s ( this one was 170 (his 5th-best career effort). Relentless greatness by these three.
4. MICKEY MANTLE – Wait, he missed 39 games – was he THAT much better than the entire AL? Absolutely. 122 BB in 123 G, and won the OPS+ crown by 196 to 140. The bad knee hampered his defense in ‘62, but not yet convinced that he was a major liability.
5. TOMMY DAVIS – Bizarre season, at age 23. 149 OPS+, goes 141 in 1963 and never exceeds 125 from age 25 on. Winds up with the Seattle Pilots (and Astros) in 1969, the Astros/A’s/Cubs in 1970. 10th in the AL MVP voting in 1973, as the Orioles’ DH at that position was born that year, in spite of no fielding and a 107 OPS+ and missed 25 games. Oh, yes, even aside from the wacky 153 RBI, he was really really good in 1962.
6. MAURY WILLS – This is a preposterous MVP pick, though I fully understand how it happened. And I am not generally dazzled by 100 OPS+ SSs, granting that is a good number for the position. But if you can field well, and you play in 165 regular-season games (ok, he only started 164 of them), and get 759 PA, and you steal a record 104 bases and get caught only 13 times, and your team’s offensive numbers are, well, odd, as if something was happening here – then I have to take you into account, don’t I?
7. BOB PURKEY – The prize-winning lead for the Don Larsen heroics was “The Imperfect Man pitched a perfect game today.” Well, this imperfect man had as perfect a season as a non-entity has ever had. 2nd in IP, 3rd in ERA+, and 18 CG in 37 SP so the 23-5 record isn’t all luck. Only hit .103, but did hit a couple of homers at least.
8. NORM SIEBERN – Yet another guy that we will never mention again. But a 1B with a 140 OPS+ in 162 G, 2nd in the AL. Not confident where I stand on his fielding prowess, but I’ll place him here.
9. EDDIE MATHEWS – Staggers onto my ballot again. Solid, durable player at a non-uber offensive position (nice to have the best hitter in the bigs at a position, isn’t it?)
10. BROOKS ROBINSON – Did not think this season would make my top 10, but so sweet to have a fielder like this at 3B with a 126 OPS+. And other contenders for top 10 had more warts.

Hank Aguirre was 19 IP short of the top 10, and an epically bad hitter. I understand he can be in the top 10, but he just misses for me. Only started 22 games.
Johnny Romano tempted me, quite a hitter for a catcher in the 1960s for the Indians.
Harmon Killebrew, who will be in the annual discussions, spent this season in LF, where a 138 OPS+ is less interesting.
Wish I could have picked Stan The Man. He’s in the discussion at least.

1. Willie Mays
2. Frank Robinson.
3. Hank Aaron
4. Mickey Mantle
5. Brooks Robinson
6. Tommy Davis
7. Maury Wills
8. Bob Gibson
9. Eddie Mathews
10. Bob Purkey

I hope the project isn't over. I personally didn't realize this topic had been created till DanG's post on the 5th. I always see what topics have been created or posted to by going to the main HOM page and looking at what's in Hot Topics, and it didn't show up there till there was a post to it. I don't know if anyone else missed it in that way.

My feelings currently are that the requirement for a prelim several days before voting ends is probably doing more harm than good. I understand that it's there to prevent someone who hasn't been active in the discussion from posting a questionable ballot at the eleventh hour, so that there's no time to question the voter on his reasoning before the voting closes. But looking back at the history of the HOM, while that did happen a few times, it was unusual. Since we have a ballot committee, if something like that happens, I'd rather it be handled on an ad hoc basis, rather than require everyone to post a prelim before hand. It's not that difficult for me, as I have a system I don't deviate too much from, but I suspect it's keeping away some voters who would vote at the last minute if they could.

I also think the discussion period has probably been too long. There was a flurry of discussion when it started, and now there's been a few weeks with very little activity. I don't know, maybe people need this time to get their ballots ready, since it's all new work every year, but then it's only one year to analyze, not whole careers, and I'm wondering if maybe people aren't forgetting about it/losing interest, when there's not much activity. I think a shorter, more regular, amount of time, like, say, two and a half weeks of discussion, a week and a half of voting, or whatever works, for every year, might keep momentum going a little better.

Just some thoughts.

1. Willie Mays
2. Frank Robinson
3. Hank Aaron
4. Tommy Davis
5. Mickey Mantle

6. Don Drysdale
7. Maury Wills
8. Brooks Robinson
9. Bob Purkey
10. Johnny Callison

"I'm struggling with both the top TEN (only 5 guys really struck me as any kind of candidates), and the length of discussion time. Also having to do a prelim ballot, which many people enjoyed doing re HOM but which was not my habit."

Ten was really the shortest ballot anyone wanted to do, it also matches with the MVP ballot. As far as prelim ballots - listing your consideration set in alphabetical order fulfills the requirement. The requirement is intended to make sure all voters participate in the discussion, not just show up at the last minute and post some bizarre ballot.

Here's Brock Hanke's final ballot, with far less explanation that usual. I put this up for tabulation purposes. I may post up another final ballot, but the difference will only be in the commentary, not the players or their order. For tabulation, this can be considered final.

For tabluation purposes, here are my top ten, just listed in order

1. Willie Mays
2. Frank Robinson
3. Hank Aaron
4. Mickey Mantle
5. Tommy Davis
6. Bob Purkey
7. Maury Wills
8. Camilo Pascual
9.Bob Gibson
10. Hank Aguirre

1. Wlllie - One of the most fun things about this project is that, unlike the HoM, you go into each new ballot knowing that a full right end of the normal talent curve is there. The HoM now spends its time trying to decide who is just over the HoM line, and who is just below it. That far down the curve, and you can't really tell those players apart. Most HoM ballots could be randomly switched around for order, and still be defensible. This project gives you a clean ballot. I love it.

2. Frank - Oh, look. Frank turned in another Frank Robinson season.

3. Hank - Yep. That's a Hank Aaron season, "seasoned" with a little CF play.

4. Mickey Mantle - Missed a little time, too much to make up be being in the better league for a year.

5. Tommy Davis - I rank defensive outfielders as a group, rather than separating the positions. The reason can basically be summed up as "if you have a tremendous defensive left fielder, he becomes a center fielder, and his defensive numbers get better just from the position change." Tommy played left because the Bums had Willie. Tommy was a certifiable center fielder; he just wasn't Willie.

6. Bob Purkey - With the pitchers, I had more confidence in the ones where the assorted uberscores, particularly the ordinals, were reasonably close, suggesting a real consensus. That's Purkey. Everyone has him about here.

7. Maury Wills - I give credit for setting a record or a precedent. Maury, in 1962, put the GMs of baseball on notice that they were going to have to drop all those homer-hitting catchers who had weak arms, and get catchers with better defense, even if they hit less. That's a big impact, and I gave it some credit here.

8. Camilo Pascual - The next highest-ranked pitcher with a good, solid consensus.

9. Bob Gibson - Only one system hates him, WSAB, which has him (in ordinal rank) at 25th. I dropped him a slot or two for that, but he still has enough consensus to rank top ten, especially when you factor in his bat and glove.

10. Hank Aguirre - WAA has him at 49th. The consensus of the other ubersystems would be about #8. I weighted the WAA enough to drop him two slots, even though it's a wild outlier.

My #11 would be Norm Siebern, because he pretty much does dominate first baseman in 1962. He led them in G, PA, Runs, RBI, BB, OBP, OPS, and OPS+, sometimes by serious margins. I agonized over Siebern vs. Aguirre more than anything else on the ballot. Kaat and Aguirre isn't easy, either. I took their two systems' outliers out of their rankings, and they ended up almost equal, with Kaat a bit ahead. But Aguirre had a lot more innings with reliever leverage, so I gave it to Hank in spite of Jim's better glove.

Kaat and Drysdale had big problems with WSAB. Turk Farrell had BIG problems with both WSAB AND WAA. That is, there's no consensus at all on Farrell. If I were the owner of WSAB or WAA, I would take this as a challenge. Something is badly wrong among the systems. Give yours a good scrubbing and see what the Farrell problem is. Of course, it could also be that WSAB and WAA are right and it's the other systems that have work to do. But they have the outlier systems outranked 4 to 2. In fact, all the serious pitcher outliers come from either WSAB or WAA or both. This is a situation that might never have come to light this fast except for this project and Turk Farrell. I say we're contributing to sabermetrics here. This project needs NOT to die. - Brock Hanke

I agree it's very unfortunate that MMP topics don't show up ion the HoM home page. Anybody know why they don't and how to fix that? And I agree that the discussion period is probably longer than necessary, at least given the activity to date.

I see the topics on the home page, they're just stuck underneath the permanent stuff on top.

1962 ballot

I use a combination of WAR, Win Shares above bench, OPS+, ERA+, IP and FIP with an adjustment based on league strength and league schedule length.
Only 1 pitcher in my top 10, but pitchers did much better than last year in my rankings.

1. Willie Mays - Defense puts him above Frank Robinson.
2. Frank Robinson
3. Hank Aaron - Last years Personal NL MMP player
4. Mickey Mantle - Last years, and this years Personal AL MMP player
5. Tommy Davis - Better than Wills, the Dodgers real MVP
6. Bob Purkey - Good combo of innings and quality
7. Maury Wills - My Davis comment sounds somewhat negative towards Wills but this was a very good year for Wills
8. Don Drysdale - Led league in innings pitched with 314.1.
9. Johnny Callison
10. Norm Siebern

11-15 Hank Aguirre, Eddie Mathews, John Romano, Felipe Alou, Bob Gibson
16-20 Turk Farrell, Brooks Robinson, Warren Spahn, Jim Kaat, Rocky Colavito

Here are my top 10 for 1962. I wanted to get to twenty this time but can't access my spreadsheet due to computer issues... which also mean I don't have the numbers I create by looking at the various systems I use [brWAR, WSAB, bgWAR, bpWARP, drWARP, fgWAR, win shares].
1. willie mays
2. frank robinson
3. hank aaron
4. mickey mantle
5. tommy davis
6. camilo pascual
7. hank aguirre
8. brooks robinson
9. bob purkey
10.don drysdale

It's good to see pitchers on my ballot after 1961... And down towards the bottom of my ballot things were really close. If I remember correctly I think jim kaat was 11th and maury wills was 12th...

3) Mickey Mantle - He missed 139 games and still dominated the AL. If he had played a full season, the Mick could have been the best in the majors.

Obviously, I meant to say Mantle only played 139 games.

Except he only played 123 games. Maybe you meant he missed 39 (123 + 39 = 162).

1962 Ballot

I use a combination of OPS+, RC and WAR for batters (plus fielding runs and baserunning runs) and ERA+, IP and WAR for pitchers.

The top four players remain the same as the 1961 ballot, though they line up in a different order this year:

1. Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants: 165 OPS+, 146 Runs Created, +20 fielding runs in CF, 10.6 WAR- nearly even with Aaron and Robinson with the bat, the huge defensive lead makes Mays the clear winner this year

2. Frank Robinson, Cincinnati Reds: 172 OPS+, 160 RC, +3 in RF, 8.5 WAR- I prefer Robinson's slightly better offensive numbers (especially the 20 point lead in Runs Created) over Aaron's defensive contributions in center field

3. Hank Aaron, Milwaukee Braves: 170 OPS+, 140 RC, +6 in CF/RF, 8.8 WAR

4. Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees: 196 OPS+, 126 RC, -15 CF/RF, 7.1 WAR- a healthy Mick with more games played and his normal defensive numbers might have challenged Mays for number one, but even a diminished Mick is the best player in the American League

5. Bob Purkey, Cincinnati Reds: 143 ERA+, 288.1 IP, 7.2 WAR- I think I'm Purkey's best friend so far as most voters have him flipped with Tommy Davis, but I'll take the best pitcher in the Majors ahead of the fourth best outfielder in the NL, though not as a hard and fast rule; at least straight WAR agrees with me

6. Tommy Davis, Chicago Cubs: 149 OPS+, 129 RC, -4 LF, 6.8 WAR

7. Hank Aguirre, Detroit Tigers: 184 ERA+, 216 IP. 6.9 WAR- I don't often support high ERA+/low IP guys but Aguirre's 216 IP are only 20 shy of the top ten and that's despite being promoted to the rotation a third of the way into the season

8. Eddie Mathews, Milwaukee Braves: 137 OPS+, 106 RC, +1 3B, 5.7 WAR

9. Brooks Robinson, Baltimore Orioles: 126 OPS+, 102 RC, +18 3B, 5.6 WAR- I wish I'd followed the discussion a bit more closely as a Mathews vs. Robinson comparative discussion would have been interesting; the offensive and defensive advantages offset so I gave Mathews the nod based on league strength

10. Maury Wills, Los Angeles Dodgers: 100 OPS+, 106 RC, -2 SS, +18 base-running, 6.1 WAR- the huge base-running advantage isn't enough to catch Mathews' even bigger advantage in OPS+ or Brooks' huge glove

The next five:
Rocky Colavito, 133 OPS+, +18 LF- finishing 11th for the second year in a row
Don Drysdale, 1st in IP with 314
Norm Siebern, 140 OPS+, +4 1B
Johnny Romano, 128 OPS+, +7 C
Jim Kaat, 130 ERA+, 269 IP

6. Tommy Davis, Chicago Cubs: 149 OPS+, 129 RC, -4 LF, 6.8 WAR

Just don't say that anywhere near Chavez Ravine!

Woops! I was distracted by the Cubs hat on his bb-ref page. Which is an odd choice for a photo in that he only played for the Cubs for 26 games.

Except he only played 123 games. Maybe you meant he missed 39 (123 + 39 = 162).

Heh. Yes, that's what I meant, Chris. Don't know why I did that, though.

1) Willie Mays (Consensus Rank: 1)
2) Frank Robinson (Consensus Rank: 2)
3) Hank Aaron (Consensus Rank: 3 -- Of these three, the uber stats are relatively uniform in having this order. Robinson hit the best of the three, but had the least defensive value. Mays and Aaron hit about the same, and Aaron played more than half his games in CF (and played well there), but he had about 50 less PA than the other two, and Mays, of course, played more CF. So I'm satisfied this is the right order.)
4) Mickey Mantle (Consensus Rank: 4 -- Mantle had far and away the best season by rate (min. 100 PA). A 199 OPS+ to Aaron's 172, .455 wOBA to .425 for Robinson, and so on, in the non-expansion league. But he just missed too much time to be higher than the NL trio.)
5) Camilo Pascual (Consensus Rank: 6)
6) Bob Purkey (Consensus Rank: 5 -- Flipped Pascual and Purkey. If I ignore rWAR, as with backing out the league strength adjustment for the NL, and adding one to the AL, I think they'd be virtually tied, Pascual ends up with the better average in the uber systems. He trails Purkey by about 30 IP, and has a 123 ERA+ to Purkey's 143, but his peripherals are better, the gap in RA+ is much smaller, and he has a much better FIP+. Also, Pascual was a much better hitter, with an 80 OPS+, while Purkey had an -16.)
7) Bob Gibson (Consensus Rank: 8)
8) Jim Kaat (Consensus Rank: 9 -- I was tempted to flip Gibson and Kaat as well, since if I remove rWAR Kaat has the better average. Gibson, however, has the better peripherals and FIP+ though, so I left him ahead.)
9) Tommy Davis (Consensus Rank: 7 -- Flukey year for Davis, but he was somewhere between the 5th and 8th best hitter in MLB, had a ton of PAs, was a pretty good base runner, and was OK defensively at a corner spot.)
10) Brooks Robinson (Consensus Rank: 10 -- Pretty good year at the plate, and well above average defensively.)
11) Don Drysdale (Consensus Rank: 11)
12) Hank Aguirre (Consensus Rank: 13 -- Historically bad hitter, and peripherals don't stand out from the pack.)
13) Maury Wills (Consensus Rank: 12 -- His base-stealing numbers, and success rate, were insane, but he only hit OK, and he was below average defensively.)
14) Turk Farrell (Consensus Rank: 14)
15) Warren Spahn (Consensus Rank: 15)
16) Norm Siebern (Consensus Rank: 16)
17) Johnny Romano (Consensus Rank: 22 -- 15% C bonus.)
18) Johnny Callison (Consensus Rank: 17)
19) Eddie Mathews (Consensus Rank: 18)
20) Ray Herbert (Consensus Rank: 19)
21) Dick Radatz (Consensus Rank: 20)
22) Whitey Ford (Consensus Rank: 21)
23) Rocky Colavito (Consensus Rank: 22)
24) Bob Friend (Consensus Rank: 23)
25) Ed Charles (Consensus Rank: 24)

1962 Ballot
I'm considering primarily rWAR, but I've modified it by replacing TZ with AFR, an average of DRA and SFR. I've also applied a standard deviation adjustment to account for the uneven effects of expansion. Lastly I've added a small postseason bonus.

1. Willie Mays. Clear #1, though he doesn’t dominate the rest of the field the way Mantle did in ’61.
2. Hank Aaron. Very close between him and Robinson. Robinson is just slightly the better hitter, but Aaron played a tougher mix of positions, which in the end just barely outweighs Robinson’s playing time and offensive edge.
3. Frank Robinson
4. Tommy Davis. There’s a huge gap between the top 3 and Davis, who moves up quite a bit in my rankings compared to BR’s WAR due to his much higher AFR than TZ.
5. Turk Farrell. I’m using BR’s WAR to rate pitchers, which is why I have Farrell as my top-rated pitcher.
6. Mickey Mantle. In my original rankings, Mantle was below Purkey, in a 3-way tie with Gibson and Callison, but I’ve bumped him up because I feel that his defense was likely better than DRA thinks (-17). Mantle would be even higher, possibly above Farrell and Davis, if not for an atrocious World Series performance (.160/.241/.160 line).
7. Bob Purkey. Purkey’s low BABIP helps move him down. Though Purkey was -2 in BR’s rdef (meaning essentially neutral defensive support), he had .248 BABIP and a FIP 1.00 higher than his ERA. Maybe Purkey induced weak contact, or maybe he received exceptional defensive support despite pitching for a middle-of-the-road defensive team.
8. Bob Gibson.
9. Johnny Callison. Moved below Gibson because DRA likely overrates his defense (+28 for the season, a fine fielder for his career, but most likely not quite this good)
10. Maury Wills. Significantly below Gibson/Callison/Purkey/Mantle. Wills is at the top of a group that includes Matthews, Willie Davis, Aguirre, Kaat, Pascual, Ernie Broglio, Drysdale, Spahn, Siebern, and Brooks Robinson. It’s a big, tightly spaced group, but I’m content with Wills at the top of it for my last ballot spot.
11-20. Wills, Matthews, W. Davis, Aguirre, Kaat, Pascual, Broglio, Drysdale, Spahn, Siebern

1962 MMP Final Ballot - components to ranking include WAR, WARP, WS, OPS+/ERA+. Looking kinda pitcher heavy this cycle. I've added some fluff stats to player comments just for general interest. No changes from a quick review of the Prelim ballot.

1. Willie Mays - High Leverage statline: .438/.500/.865 Yikes!
2. Frank Robinson - NL Leader in OBP, SLG, IBB, 2B, R. April Batting Average: .186. Started 7th in batting lineup 5 times during the year.
3. Hank Aaron - Statline vs NYMets: .400/.469/.837, 9 HRs in 18 games
4. Mickey Mantle - Get on base to the tune of .486 and you're doing alright. Here due to missed games.
5. Camilo Pascual - Led AL in CG, SHO, and SO while batting .268
6. Tommy Davis - Scary bad defense @ 3B. 32 RBI's in June.
7. Don Drysdale - Cy Young winner tossed an impressive 314 innings.
8. Bob Purkey - 10-1 vs upper division (Giants/Dodgers/Pirates)
9. Jim Kaat - Start of his Gold Glove run (1962-77). 0-3 vs the 60-101 Senators.
10. Hank Aguirre - 4-0 vs. the Orioles: 4 GS, 4 CG, 2 SHO.
11 Brooks Robinson - One of only two years he hit .300. 162 games @ 3b, 11 errors.
12 Bob Gibson - 1st All-Star Game for the Cardinal hurler. More to come from this youngster.
13 Maury Wills - 208 hits, 29 for extra bases. Helps to steal 104.
14 Norm Siebern - Feasted on Red Sox pitching: .348/.452/.725
15 Eddie Mathews - Streaky Hitter: May & August BA < .200, June & July BA > .300

Others: Johnny Callison, Whitey Ford, Turk Ferrell, Warren Spahn, Johnny Romano

Noted split season between Minors/Majors: Orlando Pena

Voted last year but haven't this year

Dan R
Esteban Rivera
Al Peterson
fra paulo
voxter

If I go strictly by the rules Esteban Rivera is ineligible to vote this year because he didn't comment in the discussion thread. I will accept a ballot from DanG if he decides to vote this year.

People who participated in creating the rules but haven't voted in an election yet:

Piehole of David Wells
Jose Seabiscuit
Nolan Giesbrecht
Yardape
'zop (who argued convincingly that a large ballot would keep him from voting, then doesn't vote anyway on a small ballot)
Baldrick
Best Dressed Chicken
Bob Dernier Cri
RossWolf
Mark Donelson

Ballot closes at 4pm EDT. I don't see any point in an extension.

I'll keep the balloting open until fra paulo posts his ballot. He had the only full prelim left.

'zop (who argued convincingly that a large ballot would keep him from voting, then doesn't vote anyway on a small ballot)

sigh

I'll vote if you give me the weekend to put it together. Very busy work week.

I haven't been able to contact fra paulo and I won't close the ballot without him (he's on the ballot committee). We can extend to Monday noon and anyone who wants to get in can post a prelim (list of players being considered) by Saturday. This doesn't affect the proposed 1963 ballot end date of 8/10.

With the extension I'll get a ballot in. I've had a crazy amount of work these past few weeks and could not find the time.

1 Mays
2 Aaron
3 Frank Robinson
4 Purkey
5 Farrell
6 Gibson
7 Mantle
8 Drysdale
9 Aguirre
10 Pascual

Cool! Just saw this extension. I'll post a prelim, then I'll post here, and only miss one election.

1. Willie Mays
2. Frank Robinson
3. Hank Aaron
4. Mickey Mantle
5. Maury Wills
6. Tommy Davis
7. Bob Purkey
8. Brooks Robinson
9. Turk Farrell
10. Eddie Mathews

Ballot closes at 3 eastern today, whether or not I can find fra paulo.

Here goes my final 1962 ballot. In the end, I pretty much left it unchanged from the prelim.

1) Willie Mays
2) Frank Robinson
3) Mickey Mantle
4) Hank Aaron
5) Tommy Davis
6) Bob Purkey
7) Maury Wills
8) Norm Seibern
9) John Romano
10) Johnny Callison

11) Hank Aguirre
12) Orlando Cepeda
13) Eddie Mathews
14) Camilo Pascual
15) Warren Spahn

Sorry for my delay. I have been in California and Arizona for two weeks.

Based on two ballots, I've reached two conclusions. One is that we are voting for too many players. The other is that when you start looking at seasons, streaks and clutch performances take on greater importance as far as merit goes, and thus loss of playing time takes on less: when you do something can be more important than how often you do it.

1) Willie Mays — During two key points in the Giants' season, between 27 July and 9 August, when they fell back to 5 1/2 games behind the Dodgers, and in the final chase that led to the playoff, Mays' remained an effective player. Although he slumped to an .804 OPS during the first period, he ran up a 1.071 OPS during the second. Mays was an important reason for the Giants' success in 1962.
2) Mickey Mantle — Mantle came back from an injury on 16 June and through 8 July produced a terrific 74 PA of .362/.500/.897. The Yankees stopped wobbling and took the lead for good. The only reasons I rank Mays ahead of him is the advantage in playing time, and to avoid a last-minute occasion of scandal.
3) Maury Wills — Wills' OPS .720; NL SS OPS .672; Wills' OPS during 18-30 September Dodger swoon .775. Enough said.
4) Frank Robinson — He's good at first glance, but I demoted him because in a key set of four games against Houston and the Dodgers, he went .118/.167/.118, with a -0.513 WPA in some highly leveraged situations, and the Reds went from 3 games back to 6 1/2.
5) Hank Aaron — Not quite as good overall as Frank Robinson. The Braves were never in contention, which wasn't his fault, but means its hard to find extra credit to give him that might have put him ahead of Robinson.
6) Don Drysdale — Drysdale drooped a bit during the crucial swoon by the Dodgers in September, lasting only four innings in a 2-12 loss to the Cadinals. But he pitched well enough in his other two losses during that phase of the season that I'm going to blame Dodger bats more than his arm. Definitely the Most Valuable Pitcher for 1962.
7) Bob Purkey — Perhaps a shock, but I think Purkey is the scond-best pitcher in 1962, simply because of his clutch performances. In two games against the Dodgers in August, he kept his team in the game for ten innings in the home match. Then, in Dodger stadium, a lack of offensive support is just as bad as his giving up four runs in four innings. The Dodgers scored four off Purkey and four off Reds' relievers in an 8-1 victory. By contrast, some other pitchers who put up good stats through the season, failed in the clutch. (I'm looking at Pascual and Kaat in particular.)
8) Norm Siebern — I've ranked him and the remaining two all by their WPA/LI. Their uberstats are close enough that I'm more interested in how they did in leveraged situations to create my degrees of separation.
9) Eddie Mathews
10) Johnny Callison

Election is closed