1948 Ballot

1) Lou Boudreau - Closest decision ever for me at the top of the ballot. Terrific bat for a SS. Postseason was enough to move Boudreau to the top of the list despite a noticeably weaker American League.
2) Stan Musial - best bat by a lot
3) Harry Brecheen - best pitcher
4) Ted Williams - second best bat
5) Johnny Sain - strong postseason moves him up the list
6) Hal Newhouser - best AL pitcher
7) Bob Elliott - good postseason and a bit of a down year in general for third basemen
8) Johnny Mize
9) Ralph Kiner
10) Joe DiMaggio

11-15) Bob Lemon, Ken Keltner, Andy Pafko, Gene Bearden, Dutch Leonard
16-20) Ray Scarborough, Luke Easter, Jackie Robinson, Minnie Minoso, Bobby Doerr

1948 Ballot

1. Stan Musial, RF/CF, St. Louis Cardinals: huge year with 200 OPS+, 192 RC and +5 fielding while spending 40% of his games in CF
2. Lou Boudreau, SS, Cleveland Indians: best player in the AL this year thanks to 165 OPS+ and +20 fielding
3. Ted Williams, LF, Boston Red Sox: so accustomed to Teddy Ballgame dominating baseball that a third place vote seems like a disappointment
4. Joe DiMaggio, CF, New York Yankees: 3rd in AL OPS+ with 163, 2nd in RC with 138
5. Johnny Sain, P, Boston Braves: 149 ERA+ in MLB leading 314 IP
6. Harry Brecheen, P, St. Louis Cardinals: "The Cat" led the NL with 182 ERA+
7. Ken Keltner, 3B, Cleveland Indians: 146 OPS+ and +12 fielding at the hot corner
8. Bob Lemon, P, Cleveland Indians: best pitcher in the AL with 144 ERA+ in 293 IP
9. Joe Gordon, 2B, Cleveland Indians: is this one of the best infields of all-time? Gordon put up a 135 OPS+ and +16 fielding to join Boudreau and Keltner on the ballot
10. Gene Bearden, P, Cleveland Indians: beats out Johnny Mize for the last ballot spot on the strength of AL-leading 168 ERA+ and a pretty impressive .256/.295/.356 slash line for a 75 OPS+

11. Johnny Mize, 1B, New York Giants
12. Hal Newhouser, P, Detroit Tigers
13. Tommy Henrich, RF, New York Yankees
14. Andy Pafko, 3B, Chicago Cubs
15. Jim Gilliam, 2B, Baltimore Elite Giants
16. Bob Elliott, 3B, Boston Braves
17. Sid Gordon, 3B/LF, New York Giants
18. Dutch Leonard, P, Philadelphia Phillies
19. Bobby Doerr, 2B, Boston Red Sox
20. Johnny Schmitz, P, Chicago Cubs

1948 Ballot

1. Lou Boudreau 11.84 WARR
2. Stan Musial 10.52 WARR
3. Johnny Sain 8.75 WARR
4. Ted Williams 8.69 WARR
5. Harry Brecheen 8.52 WARR
6. Ken Keltner 7.96 WARR
7. Joe Gordon 6.95 WARR
8. Richie Ashburn 6.28 WARR
9. Joe DiMaggio 6.14 WARR
10. Ralph Kiner 6.10 WARR

rest of the top 15
11. Tommy Heinrich
12. Johnny Mize
13. Vern Stephens
14. Johnny Vander Meer
15. Larry Doby

Best AL pitcher: Hal Newhouser

Here's the RPA top MLB players for 1948, by the number of runs produced, above the median:

1. Ted Williams 70.07 runs
2. Stan Musial 68.37 runs
3. Lou Boudreau 50.82 runs
4. Johnny Mize 45.83 runs
5. Joe DiMaggio 45.41 runs
6. Ken Keltner 37.75 runs
7. Bob Elliott 36.79 runs
8. Harry Brecheen 35.86 runs
9. Tommy Henrich 34.03 runs
10. Ralph Kiner 32.49 runs

11. Jeff Heath 29.98 runs
12. Joe Gordon 29.56 runs
13. Andy Pafko 28.81 runs
14. Bobby Doerr 27.30 runs
15. Bob Lemon 27.18 runs

16. Sid Gordon 26.75 runs
17. Pat Mullin 26.61 runs
18. Bill Nicholson 25.93 runs
19. Enos Slaughter 25.73 runs

I hope this election doesn't get overshadowed by the other one. 4 ballots is pretty light.

Official 1948 MMP Ballot (no postseason bonuses and a 2% reduction for AL players):

1) Stan Musial: Best ML player and right fielder/outfielder by quite a bit.
2) Ted Williams: Best AL player and ML left fielder by a comfortable amount.
3) Lou Boudreau: Best ML shortstop.
4) Joe DiMaggio: Best ML center fielder.
5) Harry Brecheen: Best ML pitcher.
6) Johnny Mize: Best ML first baseman.
7) Luke Easter: Best NeL player.
8) Johnny Sain: Best pitcher who became a fine pitching coach.
9) Tommy Henrich: Best AL right fielder.
10) Bob Lemon: Best AL pitcher.

1948 MMP Ballot:

1) Stan Musial (31.82)
2) Lou Boudreau (31.24) - AL MMP
3) Harry Brecheen (22.44) - MMPitcher
4) Ted Williams (19.27)
5) Luke Easter (18.93) - NeL MMP
6) Johnny Sain (16.11)
7) Bob Elliot (14.251)
8) Joe Gordon (14.247)
9) Johnny Mize (13.50)
10) Joe DiMaggio (13.12)

11-15) Ken Keltner, Don Newcombe, Hal Newhouser (AL MMPitcher), Bob Lemon, Marv Williams.

This is Brock Hanke's ballot for 1948. The ballot itself was easy, because Win Shares and WAR were in high consensus. The only player in the top ten on EITHER listing who did not make the final list was Tommy Heinrich, ranked 7th in Win Shares, but only 18th in WAR. I read a couple of comments, back in the Discussion thread, that confused me. I have no idea how anyone could rank Lou Boudreau ahead of Stan Musial. Both WS and WAR rank Musial higher; the Win Shares difference is significant, and both systems include Boudreau's superior defense. As for Boudreau's postseason, he was the third best hitter on his own team, and no one on his team played as well as the Braves' Bob Elliott, who was the best player in the Series. As for the Gene Beardon managerial thing, Beardon had had three days rest before he closed out game 6. He started Game 3, pitched a shutout. Then there's game 4, the "travel" day, and Game 5. Three days' rest before game 6. Alex Cora did worse to David Price just a month ago. I just don't get why Boudreau should be considered a genius for what he did. And I haven't even mentioned his lack of use of Satchel Paige. Oh, I should mention that I did not count Negro League guys, because there is, effectively, no negro league in 1948. I also didn't count minor league credit because I have no serious way to turn 1948 minor league numbers into Major League Equivalencies.

Anyway, here's my ballot, for those of you who are not so disgusted with me over Boudreau that you are willing to read it:

1. Stan Musial
2. Lou Boudreau
3. Ted Williams
4. Joe DiMaggio
5. Johnny Mize
6. Harry Brecheen
7. Johnny Sain
8. Hal Newhouser
9. Ralph Kiner
10. Bob Elliott (No, I didn't give him, or anyone else, postseason credit. If you want to see postseason credit, look up Eddie Collins and Lou Brock)

I take back my statement that Gene Bearden was working on three days' rest when he saved Game 6. Something clicked in my head, and I remembered this was many years ago, and teams then maybe didn't need a travel day. And they didn't take one. Bearden, nominally the third starter, but arguably the best pitcher on the team, was scheduled to start games 3 and 6. He did pitch in Game 6. He just didn't start, and he was only on two days' rest. If I'd been managing that team, Satchel Paige would have been on the mound in relief about an inning before Bearden, and Gene would have been set up to start a Game 7, if needed. - Brock

1948 Ballot Revised

DL, Brock's comment about ranking Boudreau ahead of Musial caused me to revisit my AL calculations. As usual Brock was correct. I had mis-typed the formula for RAA on my AL hitters spreadsheet resulting in changes (and in some cases major changes) in my numbers.

Please ignore my previous 1948 ballot and use the following:


1. Stan Musial 10.52 WARR
2. Lou Boudreau 10.19 WARR
3. Ted Williams 9.13 WARR
4. Johnny Sain 8.75 WARR
5. Harry Brecheen 8.52 WARR
6. Ken Keltner 7.00 WARR
7. Richie Ashburn 6.28 WARR
8. Ralph Kiner 6.10 WARR
9. Joe DiMaggio 6.05 WARR
10. Tommy Heinrich 5.98 WARR

rest of the top 15
11. Johnny Mize
12. Johnny VanderMeer
13. Enos Slaughter
14. Joe Gordon
15. Hal Newhouser

1948 ballot-no postseason credit but some small credit for playing for Pennant-contender

1. Musial--edges Lou for MMP
2. Boudreau--top AL player, decent gap between #2 & 3
3. Ted Williams--more significant gap between #3 & 4
4. Joe Dimaggio
5. Brecheen--top pitcher
6. Sain
7. Elliott
8. Joe Gordon
9. Mize
10.Newhouser --top AL pitcher, edges Kiner for final spot

DL, will you be putting together a vote for the Today's Game Era Committee ballot?

I can run a Mock Today's Game next week

Perfect. Thank you, DL

Ballot is closed. Everyone who voted in 1947 has already voted.