Last year was just the sixth time since the Hall of Fame opened in 1932 that no one received enough votes to qualify. Joe Gordon came closest to the required 75% as he was named on 71.9% of the ballots.
Here are the top seven vote getters from last season.
Code:
1- Joe Gordon 71.9
2- Pee Wee Reese 66.5
3- Jackie Robinson 64.9
4- Bob Feller 64.5
5- Harry Breechen 53.4
6- Ralph Kiner 51.1
7- Del Ennis 34.2
JOE GORDON
This is Gordon's 9th time on the ballot and his support has steadily increased from just 42.8% in his initial year of eligibility to just missing last season.
He played 2265 career major league games with the Yankees and Athletics and never spent a day in the minors. He was an 8-time all-star and won 4 gold gloves at second base. Gordon was named American League rookie of the year in 1936 when he hit .277 with 19 homers for the Yankees. He would be the Yankees every day second baseman for a decade before being traded to the Athletics in exchange for Babe Barna and Joe Astroth. With Philadelphia he would be a starter for 5 more seasons before spending the final two years of his career as a back-up infielder.
Gordon played in two World Series with the Yankees, batting .200 with a pair of homers in 11 games, but his club lost to the Cardinals both times. He finished with 2255 career hits, 327 homers and a .274 lifetime average. The real life Gordon played just 11 seasons, missing two years due to military service, hitting .268 with 1530 hits and 253 homeruns.
PEE WEE REESE
Reese is eligible for the fifth time and has come close but is consistently falling about 10% short of election. Like Gordon, he was a 4 time gold glove winner and 8 time all-star.
Reese spent his entire 19 year career with the Dodgers, retiring following the 1956 season. He played 2619 career games, had 2803 hits and was a lifetime .274 hitter. He only appeared in one World Series, going 3-for-17 as the Dodgers were swept by the Yankees in 1955.
In real-life Reese played 2166 games, missing 3 years during WWII, and had 2170 career hits to go with a lifetime .269 average.
JACKIE ROBINSON
In this universe Robinson is just one of a number of former Negro League players who made the major leagues in 1948 so he does not have quite the same impact historically as the real life version of him does. That being said, when you consider he did not debut in the game until the age of 26 in 1945, with what he accomplished in 3 years in the Negro Leagues added to his real life totals he did enough to get my vote for the Hall of Fame.
Robinson was eligible for the first time in 1964 and he was named on 53.7% of the ballots, a number that increased to 64.9% last year.
He began his professional baseball career in 1945 with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League. Robinson played 3 seasons for the Monarchs and ended up with a .402 career batting average. A two-time MVP and two-time league batting champ, Robinson also won a Negro World Series with Kansas City.
Following the 1947 season he joined a wave of Negro Leaguers to move to the Major Leagues. The Phillies signed him and after a very brief apprenticeship in the International League, where he belted 5 homers in 8 games while batting .484, Robinson was promoted to the Phillies and remained with the club until his retirement in 1958. He was named 1948 National League rookie of the year after hitting .337 in 92 games.
Robinson never won a batting title in the major leagues, but did lead the National League in stolen bases twice and runs scored on 3 occassions. He played 1,429 career major league games and was a lifetime .301 hitter. A six-time all-star he showed his versatility in the field by winning 3 Gold Gloves at 3 different positions.
When you add in his Negro League numbers Robinson is a .320 career hitter with 2,059 hits in just 1,756 games. You have to wonder what he would have accomplished had his career started at age 20 instead of 26.
The other big nod in Robinson's favour is his post-season play. He was a big contributor to a loaded Phillies team that played in 6 World Series in a 7 year span. Robinson hit .304 in 39 World Series games with 5 homers. His most dominant playoff was 1952 when he went 10-for-22 (.455) in a 6 game win over the Yankees. His Phillies won 4 World Championships during that span.
VERDICT - On it's own, Robinson's major league numbers are maybe not enough to get him in the Hall - even with his World Series performances - but he will certainly get my vote based on his Negro League totals, and he still was the first to break the color barrier in this game in terms of awards - his 1948 National League rookie of the year was the first major award won by a player of color.
Reese and Gordon seemed to have pretty similar careers and I would consider both borderline Hall of Famers. I am leaning towards voting for Reese and not for Gordon, just based on the longevity that allowed Reese to get over 2800 hits, placing him 34th all-time in that category.
As I post the rest of the candidates from this years ballot I welcome any feedback to try and change my mind but so far my ballot will consist of the following:
Pee Wee Reese
Jackie Robinson
Enos Slaughter
with Don Newcombe a possible selection, but I still have a number of players to look at including some decent pitchers.