Hi, guys. This is Brock Hanke’s ballot for 1931. I’ll try to post it to the Ballot thread when it comes up, but, just in case, this is my final ballot, and can be transferred from here to the Ballot thread when the time comes.

This year, for no good reason that I can think of, the problems with pitcher ranking dosconnects between Win Shares and WAR has reared its ugly head. Quite a change from 1930. Also, my method produced two ties: Ruth and Grove for the #1 slot and Simmons and Cronin for #4. I put Grove and Simmons ahead because of postseason play. I also slid Mickey Cochrane up a couple of slots to get him on the ballot at #10. I wouldn’t have done that on just catcher bonus or just on postseason bonus, but Mickey has both. As for the Negro League, it’s in a state of collapse in 1931, IIRC, and there are a lot of very close WAR rankings. I chose Martin Dihigo, but not for any real good reason. I just trust Dihigo more than the other candidates with very similar rankings.

A fun note: The As have two Top Ten guys (three with Cochrane), and George Earnshaw and Max Bishop also made DL’s header. The Cards have no one in the Top Ten, and only Hafey, Frisch and Bottomly on the ballot at all. The Cards beat the As in the World Series. Pepper Martin, the star of the series, didn’t do enough in the regular season to make the header. I call this the Branch Rickey Syndrome. The As had bigger stars, but the Cards had more depth. The farm system is equal to Connie Mack’s starfinding power.

Anyway, here’s the Ballot:

1. Lefty Grove
2. Babe Ruth
3. Lou Gehrig
4. Al Simmons
5. Joe Cronin
6. Wes Ferrell
7. Earl Averill
8. Martin Dihigo
9. Bill Terry
10. Mickey Cochrane

1931 Ballot

1) Babe Ruth - best bat
2) Lou Gehrig - 2nd best bat
3) Lefty Grove - best pitcher
4) Joe Cronin - very strong fielding season
5) Al Simmons - postseason bonus but it doesn't change his position on the ballot
6) Willie Wells - numbers dipped from his peak season of 1930
7) Mickey Cochrane - best catcher
8) Wes Ferrell - great bat for a pitcher
9) Martin Dihigo - hard to get a read on his combined value but was clearly a good hitter and pitcher in 1931 playing for a strong Hilldale team
10) Wally Berger - best NL player

11-15) Watty Clark, Lyn Lary, Ray Benge, Mel Ott, Bill Terry
16-21) Ed Brandt, Paul Waner, Max Bishop, Earl Averill, Chuck Klein, Satchel Paige

1. Joe Cronin
2. Babe Ruth
3. Wally Berger
4. Lefty Grove
5. Mickey Cochrane
6. Earl Averill
7. Bill Dickey
8. Lefty Grove
9. Al Simmons
10. Turkey Stearnes

1931 Ballot

1. Lefty Grove 10.21 WARR
2. Babe Ruth 8.52 WARR
3. Al Simmons 8.23 WARR
4. Joe Cronin 7.61 WARR
5. George Earnshaw 7.24 WARR
7. Wally Berger 6.61 WARR
8. Bill Terry 6.58 WARR
9. Willie Wells 6.51 WARR
10. Logan Hensley 6.11 WARR

Rest of the top 20
11. Jud Wilson
12. Sam West
13. Wes Ferrell
14. Ray Benge
15. Goose Goslin
16. Chuck Klein
17. Max Bishop
18. Mickey Cochrane
19. George Uhle
20. Earl Averill

Additional ballot information

I guess 6 is a number between 1 and 10.

So please add

6. Lou Gehrig

to my ballot.

Yardape - your final ballot has Lefty Grove twice. Your prelim had Lou Gehrig in the #8 spot.

Final ballot-no postseason credit but some small credit for playing for a Pennant-contender

1. Grove -Lefty is once again dominant among pitchers in a hitter-friendly era
2. Ruth -just edged out Grove
3. Gehrig -exactly same top 3 as I had in 1930.
4. Cronin -games played total & doing that as a SS puts him ahead of Bucketfoot Al
5. Simmons
6. Terry -top NL player
7. Cochrane -helped by a catcher bonus
8. Averill
9. Ott
10.Gomez -the other Lefty

Top non-MLB player: Willie Wells
Top NL pitcher: Bill Walker

1931 Ballot

1. Babe Ruth, RF/LF, New York Yankees: ho-hum, just another season leading the league in OPS+ and RC with 218 and 182
2. Lou Gehrig, 1B, New York Yankees: 2nd to the Babe with 194 OPS+ and 180 RC
3. Lefty Grove, P, Philadelphia Athletics: dominates the mound with 217 ERA+ in 288 IP
4. Jud Wilson, 3B, Homestead Grays: 234 OPS+ from the hot corner
5. Al Simmons, LF, Philadelphia Athletics: 175 OPS+ ain't too shabby
6. Mickey Cochrane, C, Philadelphia Athletics: 149 OPS+ with a catcher bonus
7. Earl Averill, CF, Cleveland Indians: 150 OPS+ is 4th in AL
8. Rogers Hornsby, 2B, Chicago Cubs: I used to say this about Ted Williams- 100 games of Hornsby is better than 150 from anyone else; 163 OPS+ still leads the league
9. Joe Cronin, SS, Washington Senators: 127 OPS+ cracks the top ten, +11 fielding at SS
10. Martin Dihigo, RF/P, Baltimore/Hilldale: 177 OPS+ plus the occasional game on the mound

11. Bill Terry, 1B, New York Giants
12. Chuck Klein, RF, Philadelphia Phillies
13. Bill Walker, P, New York Giants: 163 ERA+ leads NL though 239 IP misses the top ten
14. Goose Goslin, LF, St. Louis Browns
15. Nelson Dean, P, Detroit Stars: top pitcher in the Negro Leagues
16. Wally Berger, CF, Boston Braves
17. Lefty Gomez, P, New York Yankees
18. Heinie Meine, P, Pittsburgh Pirates
19. Ben Chapman, CF, New York Yankees
20. Earl Webb, RF, Boston Red Sox

1931 MMP Ballot:

1. Lefty Grove (33.83)
2. Babe Ruth (27.32) - AL MMPosition Player
3. Wes Ferrell (20.24)
4. Willie Wells (20.14) - NgL MMP
5. Lou Gehrig (19.59)
6. Joe Cronin (19.12)
7. Al Simmons (17.86)
8. Martin Dihigo (15.47)
9. Rogers Hornsby (15.09) - NL MMP
10. Lefty Gomez (14.14)

11-20. Bill Terry, Jud Wilson, Max Bishop, Satchel Paige (NgL MMPitcher), George Earnshaw, Watty Clark (NL MMPitcher), Ray Benge, Mickey Cochrane, Mel Ott, Wally Berger.

1931 mWAR All-Stars

c - Mickey Cochrane
1b - Lou Gehrig
2b - Rogers Hornsby
ss - Willie Wells
3b - Jud Wilson
lf - Al Simmons
cf - Mel Ott
rf - Babe Ruth

p - Lefty Grove
p - Wes Ferrell
p - Lefty Gomez
p - Satchel Paige
p - George Earnshaw

I'm going to assume Lou Gehrig for the #8 slot on Yardape's ballot based on his prelim. Nothing from Murphy yet.

Official 1931 MMP Ballot (no postseason bonuses and a slight reduction for the still star-laden AL):

1) Babe Ruth: Best ML player and right fielder.
2) Lefty Grove: Best ML pitcher - you know you have had an amazing season when you're close to besting the Bambino.
3) Lou Gehrig: Best ML first baseman.
4) Joe Cronin: Best ML shortstop.
5) Al Simmons: Best ML left fielder.
6) Earl Averill" Best ML center fielder.
7) Bill Terry: Best NL player and first baseman.
8) Wes Ferrell: Best Ferrell among the brothers.
9) Jud Wilson: Best ML/NeL third baseman.
10) Willie Foster: Best NeL pitcher.

Best NL pitcher: Ed Brandt (#11 on my ballot).

election is over

Thanks DL, and yes, Lou Gehrig was supposed to be #8 on my ballot.

OK