BBTF's Hall of Merit Discussion :: Most Meritorious Player: 1954 Results

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Wednesday, June 04, 2014

Most Meritorious Player: 1954 Results

Congratulations to Willie Mays on the unanimous decision that he is the 1954 MMP. This is Mays 4th MMP award but the first chronologically.

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Willie Mays	180	12	12
Duke Snider	137	11	0
Eddie Mathews	134	11	0
Ted Williams	114	11	0
Minnie Minoso	107	11	0
Robin Roberts	105	10	0
Ted Kluszewski	104	10	0
Bobby Avila	82	10	0
Yogi Berra	78	9	0
Stan Musial	62	8	0
Mickey Mantle	62	7	0
John Antonelli	56	5	0
Larry Doby	25	3	0
Gil Hodges	8	1	0
Richie Ashburn	6	1	0

DL from MN Posted: June 04, 2014 at 04:00 PM | 29 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
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1. DL from MN Posted: June 04, 2014 at 04:12 PM (#4719040)

Mays 10th appearance on an MMP ballot. Mathews, Musial, Berra, Roberts and Mantle have reached the "5-time threshold". Only two players have appeared 5 or more times on an MMP ballot and not been elected HoM.

2. DL from MN Posted: June 04, 2014 at 04:21 PM (#4719050)

Mays has finished 1st 4 times, 3rd, 4th twice, 8th and 20th twice.

3. DL from MN Posted: June 04, 2014 at 04:27 PM (#4719061)

42 players are in the "5 time" club.

4. Qufini Posted: June 04, 2014 at 05:33 PM (#4719140)

Only two players have appeared 5 or more times on an MMP ballot and not been elected HoM.

Who are they?

5. Qufini Posted: June 04, 2014 at 05:33 PM (#4719141)

This has got to be a first: not only was Mays elected unanimously, he was the only player to appear on every ballot.

6. Qufini Posted: June 04, 2014 at 05:39 PM (#4719149)

Ted Williams is the American League MMP, narrowly edging Minnie Minoso for the honor 114-107. This is Williams' second AL MMP (he also won in 1951).

7. Qufini Posted: June 04, 2014 at 05:49 PM (#4719169)

Robin Roberts has won the pitching MMP for the third time in four seasons.

8. Qufini Posted: June 04, 2014 at 05:52 PM (#4719173)

Unsurprisingly, we need a runoff to determine the top AL pitcher. Based on extended ballots, it's a pretty tight race between three pitchers. If you're willing, please post a list of your top three AL pitchers so we can see who comes out on top.

9. Qufini Posted: June 04, 2014 at 05:56 PM (#4719179)

1. Wynn
2. Garcia
3. Trucks

10. DL from MN Posted: June 04, 2014 at 09:40 PM (#4719309)

Dave Concepcion (5) and Dale Murphy (6)

11. Qufini Posted: June 04, 2014 at 10:22 PM (#4719340)

Dave Concepcion (5) and Dale Murphy (6)

Thanks. I'm kind of surprised to see that Concepcion did so well. Murphy makes sense. He was a great peak player who had a quick drop-off. But Concepcion didn't have a lot of exceptional seasons- he was a solid year-to-year guy who stood out because his contemporaries were especially weak. I'm not trying to demean Concepcion. I've actually voted for him for the Hall of Merit a few times but I don't really see him as an MMP type.

12. DL from MN Posted: June 04, 2014 at 11:06 PM (#4719373)

Concepcion was always at the bottom of ballots, not at the top.

13. lieiam Posted: June 04, 2014 at 11:19 PM (#4719387)

AL pitcher runoff election:
1- Mike Garcia
2- Early Wynn
3- Bob Lemon
(16th-18th on my overall ballot)

14. MrC Posted: June 04, 2014 at 11:53 PM (#4719401)

AL pitchers

1. Steve Gromek
2. Early Wynn
3. Virgil Trucks

15. bjhanke Posted: June 05, 2014 at 01:30 AM (#4719434)

Top 3 Al pitchers:

Garcia
Lemon
Wynn

These three are, essentially, tied in my system. Lemon's bat > Wynn's > Garcia's. Pitching, the opposite. - Brock Hanke

16. Tubbs is Bobby Grich when he flys off the handle Posted: June 05, 2014 at 08:49 AM (#4719474)

None of the pitchers made my top 10 but I had Garcia as coming the closest but taking a deeper look, I have

1. Lemon
2. Wynn
3. Garcia

It was very close

17. DL from MN Posted: June 05, 2014 at 11:33 AM (#4719627)

1954 AL pitchers

Gromek, Trucks, Sullivan

18. DL from MN Posted: June 05, 2014 at 11:40 AM (#4719634)

This has got to be a first: not only was Mays elected unanimously, he was the only player to appear on every ballot.

I have confirmed this is the first election where only one player appeared on all ballots.

More trivia - only one MMP did not appear on all ballots. Any guesses?

19. Qufini Posted: June 05, 2014 at 01:04 PM (#4719703)

Canseco in '88?

20. DL from MN Posted: June 05, 2014 at 01:28 PM (#4719722)

No. I'll give the answer tomorrow if nobody guesses.

21. Michael J. Binkley's anxiety closet Posted: June 05, 2014 at 03:00 PM (#4719822)

Gromek, Wynn, Lemon

22. Qufini Posted: June 05, 2014 at 03:20 PM (#4719837)

I think it has to be someone who won a split vote so my next guesses, in order, are Fred Lynn, Reggie Jackson and Phil Rizzuto.

23. DL from MN Posted: June 05, 2014 at 04:37 PM (#4719901)

Reggie Jackson is the answer. That was the closest election ever.

24. DL from MN Posted: June 05, 2014 at 04:41 PM (#4719903)

Number of ballots leaders

1) Schmidt (13)
2t) Aaron (10)
2t) Mays (10)
4t) Carter (9)
4t) Seaver (9)
6t) Palmer (8)
6t) Henderson (8)
8 players (7)

We're not done with Aaron, Mays or Henderson yet.

25. toratoratora Posted: June 05, 2014 at 06:08 PM (#4719988)

Top AL Pitchers:
1-Garcia
2-Trucks
3-Wynn

26. Moeball Posted: June 06, 2014 at 06:12 PM (#4720671)

I'm going with the following for AL Pitcher run-off vote:

1)Gromek
2)Wynn
3)Garcia

27. Qufini Posted: June 09, 2014 at 04:41 PM (#4722096)

anybody else want to chime in on the run-off before I close the ballot tomorrow?

28. Qufini Posted: June 13, 2014 at 03:14 PM (#4725199)

As you might expect, the results of the runoff are fairly close. However, to my surprise, Cleveland Indians pitcher Early Wynn held a small, but consistent lead throughout. Both Mike Garcia and Steve Gromek had more first place votes than Wynn (3 for Garcia, 4 for Gromek). But Wynn beat them out with his consistency: he was mentioned on more ballots than any other pitcher and was only left off of one. Meanwhile, Gromek was only named on the less than half of the ballots- the same 4 that had him in first place.

Here's the tally

Wynn: 1-5-2 = 15
Garcia: 3-1-2 = 13
Gromek: 4-0-0 = 12
Lemon: 1-1-2 = 6
Trucks: 0-2-2 = 6
Sullivan: 0-0-1 = 1

29. Qufini Posted: June 13, 2014 at 03:19 PM (#4725204)

For the record, this is Early Wynn's second AL pitching MMP. However, he needed a runoff both times. In 1951, he won a tie-breaker over Ned Garver and Eddie Lopat after each of the pitchers received a single 10th place vote. And now, in 1953, he won a runoff over Mike Garcia and Steve Gromek after no AL pitchers were named on any ballot.

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Most Meritorious Player: 1954 Results

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