Two weekends to avoid doing your taxes and create your MMP ballot instead.

Final 1980 Ballot:

1. George Brett, 3B, Kansas City Royals: simply a dominating season with 203 OPS+, 135 runs created and +9 runs on defense
2. Mike Schmidt, 3B, Philadelphia Phillies: dominates the senior circuit with +11 fielding runs and league-leading numbers in OPS+ and runs created
3. Steve Carlton, P, Philadelphia Phillies: easy 1-2-3, first in ERA+ with 162 and first in innings pitched with 304
4. Mike Norris, P, Oakland Athletics: big gap from Carlton to Norris but Norris leads the rest of the pack with 149 ERA+ in 284 innings
5. Cecil Cooper, 1B, Milwaukee Brewers
6. Ben Ogilvie, LF, Milwaukee Brewers: two big bats (155 and 153 OPS+ respectively) combined with positive contributions from the field (+8 and +13 fielding runs)
7. Ted Simmons, C, St. Louis Cardinals: my system loves full-time catchers who can hit (140 OPS+)
8. Rickey Henderson, LF, Oakland Athletics: top ten in OPS+ with even greater contributions on the basepaths and in the field (+18 fielding runs)
9. Keith Hernandez, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals: great defense (+12 fielding runs) and a great bat (147 OPS+)
10. Reggie Jackson, RF/DH, New York Yankees: time at DH drops Reggie below Keith, Rickey and Ted but a 172 OPS+ is still good enough for most ballots
11. Gary Carter, C, Montreal Expos: another catcher who can hit (126 OPS+) though Carter has the much better glove (+13 fielding runs)
12. Larry Gura, P, Kansas City Royals: 2nd best pitcher in the AL with 136 ERA+ in 283 innings
13. Robin Yount, SS, Milwaukee Brewers: Yount sneaks into the coveted final ballot slot ahead of Wilson, Randolph, Sutton and McGraw

My final ballot, same as my prelim:

1 BRETT, GEORGE 9684
2 SCHMIDT, MIKE 9647
3 CARLTON, STEVE 8619
4 HENDERSON, RICKEY 8594
5 WILSON, WILLIE 7974
6 CARTER, GARY 7127
7 BUMBRY, AL 6993
8 RANDOLPH, WILLIE 6948
9 HERNANDEZ, KEITH 6894
10 OGLIVIE, BEN 6604
11 YOUNT, ROBIN 6485
12 JACKSON, REGGIE 6452
13 DAWSON, ANDRE 6420

14 NORRIS, MIKE 6419
15 COOPER, CECIL 6410
16 MURPHY, DWAYNE 6025
17 MURPHY, DALE 6021
18 BELL, BUDDY 6008
19 BURNS, BRITT 5833
20 SIMMONS, TED 5592

Super close in my system between Brett and Schmidt... Also really close between Carlton and Henderson for 3rd.
And, although he JUST missed my ballot (in 14th) it's good to see Mike Norris get the love in the various posted prelims (and Chris Fluit's ballot above). 1980 was my first year following baseball and (living in San Jose at the time) Steve Stone's narrow Cy Young victory over Mike Norris was pretty darn controversial.

1980 Final Ballot

WAR framework with reduced Replacement runs (WARR)

1. George Brett 9.60 WARR
2. Mike Schmidt 8.65 WARR
3. Steve Carlton 8.45 WARR
4. Ricky Henderson 7.50 WARR
5. Cecil Cooper 7.05 WARR
6. Keith Hernandez 7.00 WARR
7. Willie Wilson 6.55 WARR
8. Gary Carter 6.35 WARR
9. Ben Oglivie 6.35 WARR
10.Doug Corbett 6.30 WARR
11. Ted Simmons 6.15 WARR
12. Dale Murphy 5.95 WARR
13. Buddy Bell 5.95 WARR


Reminder of top 20
Robin Yount
Al Bumbry
Dwayne Murphy
Steve Rogers
Willie Randolph
Britt Burns
Reggie jackson

See comment #32 of the Discussion Thread for explanations:

1. George Brett
2. Mike Schmidt
3. Steve Carlton
4. Willie Wilson
5. Mike Norris
6. Robin Yount
7. Willie Randolph
8. Rickey Henderson
9. Dan Quisenberry
10. Dale Murphy
11. Gary Carter
12. Jerry Reuss
13. Andre Dawson

1980 Ballot

1) Mike Schmidt - only due to playing time and league adjustments. Brett had better rate stats.
2) George Brett - These are some impressive rate stats
3) Steve Carlton - These three were ahead of the pack and the postseason only puts them more ahead of the pack
4) Rickey Henderson
5) Mike Norris - Had no idea that he had a season this good
6) Willie Wilson
7) Britt Burns - Another surprise pitching season
8) Willie Randolph
9) Gary Carter
10) Robin Yount
11) Keith Hernandez
12) Ben Oglivie
13) Larry Gura - Strong postseason gives him the last ballot slot

14-20) Al Bumbry, Dale Murphy, Andre Dawson, Ron Cey, Buddy Bell, Dwayne Murphy, Cecil Cooper

1. Mike Schmidt
2. George Brett
3. Steve Carlton
4. Rickey Henderson
5. Cecil Cooper
6. Reggie Jackson
7. Gary Carter
8. Mike Norris
9. Ben Oglivie
10. Willie Randolph
11. Robin Yount
12. Willie Wilson
13. Keith Hernandez

I can't believe so many people could not get Cecil Cooper on their lists.

.352/.387/.539
6.6 WAR
Led AL in RBIs (122)
OPS+ 155
Even stole 17 out of 23 bases.

My Top 11 Records of 1980:

1 - Dancin' With Myself - Generation X (Billy Idol)
2 - I Will Follow - U2
3 - Till The Walls Come Tumblin' Down - J. Geils Band
4 - You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
5 - It's Still Rock And Roll To Me - Billy Joel
6 - Antmusic - Adam & the Ants
7 - Private Idaho - B-52's
8 - Girl U Want - Devo
9 - Whip It - Devo
10 - Switchin' To Glide - Kings
11 - Silent Night - Temptations

1980 ballot

1. George Brett. ML position player WAR leader. Top ML OPS+ by far.
2. Steve Carlton. Top ML pitcher. ML WAR leader.
3. Mike Schmidt. Top NL position player. ML WS leader, but Brett had better rates.
4. Gary Carter. Led NL in games caught (149), and majors in PA for a catcher, with a
126 OPS+, excellent defense, and 101 RBI (don't worry, the RBI had no role in the rating).
5. Willie Randolph. Top ML 2B, by far. In top 10 in ML offensive winning %.
6. Rickey Henderson. Top ML LF.
7. Reggie Jackson. 2nd in majors in OPS+, even ahead of Schmidt; his merit is reduced by missing nearly 20 games.
8. Mike Norris. Top AL pitcher. The IP were valuable, but, in retrospect, may have been career-destroying.
9. Robin Yount. Top ML SS.
10. Al Bumbry. Top ML CF.
11. Willie Wilson. Unusual season by traditional stats; comprehensive stats show the value
of his average, baserunning, and defense.
12. Larry Gura. Next-best SP.
13. Don Sutton. ML leader in ERA (2nd when park-adjusted).

14-20. Andre Dawson, Britt Burns, Doug Corbett, Dale Murphy, Keith Hernandez, Ben Oglivie, Ken Singleton

Reminder, I'd like to close balloting this week

I need to extend to Thursday because of an all-day meeting on Wednesday. Does anyone need more time than that?

My 1980 MMP ballot:

1. George Brett - great offensive season (obv), only drawback is missed games
2. Mike Schmidt - just a little below Brett; great offensive season
3. Steve Carlton - great season and post-season
4. Rickey Henderson - rickey's breakthrough season
5. Willie Wilson - very good offense, great defense
6. Robin Yount - wonderful offensive season, especially for a shortstop
7. Cecil Cooper - hitting 352 makes up for lack of walks
8. Keith Hernandez - led NL in OBA with doubles power
9. Mike Norris - undoubtedly deserved cy young; led AL in win values by 1.4 wins
10. Dale Murphy - very good production figures (WPA, etc.); good defense in CF too
11. Gary Carter - fine catcher with good offense is rare in this era
12. Willie Randolph - probably best season of career (led AL in walks)
13. Ben Oglivie - surely benjie's best season (led AL in HR)

Here’s Brock Hanke’s 1980 ballot. It’s the normal methodology – compare Win Shares and WAR rankings and then try to resolve conflicts, give post-season credit, things like that. This year, there was more consensus between the two uberstats than normal, because WAR, which usually includes several pitchers on the ballot (by which, I mean ranked among that system’s top 25, because I need to dig that deep to get marginal cases), only has two ranked seriously high: Steve Carlton and Britt Burns. Win Shares has Carlton lower than WAR but nowhere near off the ballot. It doesn’t have Burns on the ballot, but WAR has Burns so high (8th overall), that I included him at the end of my ballot. The same thing for Reggie! Jackson, who isn’t on WAR’s ballot, but ranks #7 by Win Shares. I included those two at the bottom of my ballot, just because they ranked so high in one system. I don’t always do that; this is kind of an experiment for me.

Mike Schmidt and Willie Randolph got postseason credit. George Brett and Steve Carlton got BIG postseason credit. I moved Randolph and Carlton up a little. Brett had nowhere to go, having already finished first; Schmidt could not leapfrog Brett, because he had less postseason credit than George did. Gary Carter and Ted Simmons got catcher bonuses, which moved Carter up a bit and landed Simmons the last spot on the ballot. If I’ve shafted anyone, it’s Dwayne Murphy, Cecil Cooper or Robin Yount. Anyway, without further ado, here’s the ballot.

1. George Brett
2. Mike Schmidt
3. Steve Carlton
4. Rickey Henderson
5. Willie Randolph
6. Willie Wilson
7. Gary Carter
8. Al Bumbry
9. Andre Dawson
10. Keith Hernandez
11. Reggie! Jackson
12. Britt Burns
13. Ted Simmons

1980 Official MMP Ballot (no postseason bonuses):

1) George Brett: Best ML player and third baseman - man, this was an exciting season.
2) Mike Schmidt: Best NL third baseman - nobody else was really close to these two.
3) Rickey Henderson: Best ML left fielder - what a thrill to watch him run that year.
4) Al Bumbry: Best ML center fielder.
5) Willie Randolph: Best ML second baseman.
6) Gary Carter: Best ML catcher.
7) Steve Carlton: Best ML pitcher.
8) Reggie Jackson: Best ML right fielder.
9) Keith Hernandez: Best ML first baseman.
10) Doug Corbett: Best AL pitcher.
11) Andre Dawson: Best NL center fielder.
12) Ben Oglivie
13) Robin Yount: Best ML shortstop.

I can't believe so many people could not get Cecil Cooper on their lists.

.352/.387/.539
6.6 WAR
Led AL in RBIs (122)
OPS+ 155
Even stole 17 out of 23 bases.

Good point. I missed him when I posted my ballot earlier today. Therefore...

1980 Official MMP Ballot (no postseason bonuses):

1) George Brett: Best ML player and third baseman - man, this was an exciting season.
2) Mike Schmidt: Best NL third baseman - nobody else was really close to these two.
3) Rickey Henderson: Best ML left fielder - what a thrill to watch him run that year.
4) Al Bumbry: Best ML center fielder.
5) Willie Randolph: Best ML second baseman.
6) Gary Carter: Best ML catcher.
7) Steve Carlton: Best ML pitcher.
8) Reggie Jackson: Best ML right fielder.
9) Keith Hernandez: Best ML first baseman.
10) Cecil Cooper: Best AL first baseman.
11) Doug Corbett: Best AL pitcher.
12) Andre Dawson: Best NL center fielder.
13) Ben Oglivie

Sorry about that, Robin.

Copied from the discussion thread.

1. Mike Schmidt
2. Steve Carlton
3. George Brett - Brett may have been the best player on a rate basis, but the lower playing time drops him below the two Phillies. Carlton is easily the best pitcher of the year.
4. Ben Ogilvie - This season really took me by surprise. We're starting to get into players that I saw play, but Ogilvie is a new revelation for me.
5. Al Bumbry -Best CF
6. Robin Yount - Best SS
7. Mike Norris - Best AL pitcher
8. Rickey Henderson - Rickey! makes his name
9. Frank White - Best 2B, including a fairly strong postseason
10. Willie Randolph
11. Gary Carter - Best C. Good defense, strong hitting season.
12. Cecil Cooper
13. Willie Wilson - Very interesting player. Good season, including playoffs.

Balloting closes at 4 eastern today.

Election is closed

Where are the results?

Haven't heard from fra paulo. Usually he's posted them by now.