The Ultimate Quest for Candidates: Round 1 – The 1970’s (part 2)

[Freakshow]

Welcome to the Ultimate Quest for Candidates! (http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=68815) This thread has the 11th poll in the first round, choosing the best candidates for the Hall of Fame from the MLB stars of the late 1970’s. You will be asked to vote for your top SIX (6) players (out of 18); another thread with a companion poll is posted for the stars of the early 1970's (http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=74668), where you are asked to vote for your top FIVE (5) players (out of 15). This decade has more candidates (33) than earlier decades because of expansion, as well as their recent vintage. None of these candidates were eligible for the HOF Veterans Committee before it was reformed in 2001; there’s still a lot of work to do. The polls will close a month after they open.

I’m asking voters not to peek at the results of the voting until after they’ve cast their ballot. I would hope that voters are capable of independently assessing the candidates without worrying about whom the consensus is favoring.

We will be judging players by the same criteria that the Hall of Fame uses:

“voting shall be based upon the individual's record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the game.”

So everything counts, their lifetime achievements on and off the field, along with their character and other intangibles.

[Brad Harris]

Blyleven
Grich
Nettles
Parker
Simmons

Please add Evans as I neglected to check off a sixth box. :( Thanks.

[dgarza]

Blyleven
Parker
Simmons
Oliver
Garvey
Foster

[Freakshow]

Blyleven
Grich
Nettles
Parker
Simmons

Please add Evans as I neglected to check off a sixth box. :( Thanks.
You're not alone. We need one more name from Erik Bedard as well.

[MadHatter]

Concepcion
Foster
Garvey
Lynn
Parker
Simmons

[Paul Wendt]

Simmons, Blyleven, Grich

So far, so good

Now, even the fifteen who remain look better than the early 1970s crowd.

[Los Bravos]

Blyleven, Evans, Garvey, Nettles, Simmons and Parker. And I gave extremely serious consideration to Grich. I'm in agreement with the consensus.

This doesn't happen very often...

[Paul Wendt]

Here they are by fielding position. How did any of you vote without this?

LF CF RF
Foster Cedeno Parker
LuzinskiLynn Singleton
Oliver*

3B SS 2B 1B
Evans Concepc Grich Garvey
Nettles
Cey

P
Blyleven
Reuschel

C
Simmons
Tenace
Porter
*Oliver played far more in center than in right, but almost as much at firstbase.

[Paul Wendt]

Simmons, Blyleven, Grich

So far, so good

Now, even the fifteen who remain look better than the early 1970s crowd.

I plunked for the glovemen who hit better than their colleagues and played a long time:
Concepcion, Evans, Nettles

Now why didn't I vote for Lave Cross in the 1890s?

The leader is a minor surprise but I had Luzinski pegged right on.

[baseballPAP]

Suprising to see 2 of my choices as solo votes....no love for Singleton or Cedeno? No one else is impressed by 200 HR/550 SB guy who was hampered severly by his home field in the power department? How about a lifetime 132 OPS+ guy with awesome OB skills and 246 HR, mostly in the HR defecient 70s?

No One?

This may be why BOTH of these guys fell to me in the "Burbs draft :)

[Los Bravos]

I gave Singy very serious consideration.

[Paul Wendt]

They're in the "wrong" half-decade to pick up (m)any stray votes.

[leecemark]

Suprising to see 2 of my choices as solo votes....no love for Singleton or Cedeno? No one else is impressed by 200 HR/550 SB guy who was hampered severly by his home field in the power department? How about a lifetime 132 OPS+ guy with awesome OB skills and 246 HR, mostly in the HR defecient 70s?

No One?

This may be why BOTH of these guys fell to me in the "Burbs draft :)

--246 HR is not an impressive total for a corner outfielder. Especially one with very little defensive or baserunning value. Singleton was a valuable player and an underrated one. However his BEST skill was plate discipline and few, if any, players walk their way to the Hall of Fame.
--Cedeno was close to my ballot. He was a sensational talent for a few years. His park didn't just supress his power though, it (helped) wreck his knees and he ended up a poor man's Andre Dawson (though his best years were better). I barely support Dawson and he has longevity and doesn't have the character issues.

[frehleyscomet]

Parker
Blyleven



Oliver

[Freakshow]

Parker
Blyleven



Oliver
Please let me know (via PM if you prefer) who your next three choices in this poll would be. Voters are asked to pick their top six, exactly. Not six or less.

[Freakshow]

With four days to go in this round the results are still very open to change. It's not hard to find six players worth supporting in this field.:cool:

[Windy City Fan]

Blyleven
Grich
Evans
Simmons

To round out the ballot I went with Concepcion and Nettles, even though I don't generally support their election. I do consider them reasonable "grey area" candidates.

[Brad Harris]

Are Concepcion and Garvey the only at-large candidates making it to the next round or will Cey, Lynn and Oliver be given consideration in spite of the significant gap between the the two groups?

[Freakshow]

Are Concepcion and Garvey the only at-large candidates making it to the next round or will Cey, Lynn and Oliver be given consideration in spite of the significant gap between the the two groups?
It's actually a bit weirder than that, with two partial ballots cast...Results up soon.

[Freakshow]

This poll has now closed. With 21 voters weighing in, there are six players assured of being on the ballot in Round 2, the best Hall of Fame Candidates from the late 1970's:

Bert Blyleven
Darrell Evans
Bobby Grich
Graig Nettles
Dave Parker
Ted Simmons

These six will be combined with the top five from the early 1970's poll, plus three at-large spots.

These five players have earned consideration for an at-large spot on the ballot in Round 2:

Ron Cey
Dave Concepcion
Steve Garvey
Fred Lynn
Ken Singleton

EDIT: Another voter completed his ballot via PM, adding another vote for Lynn.

Along with Classic, another voter completed his short ballot via PM, so to the tally above there should be votes added for Evans and Singleton. Another voter cast a ballot with 3 names, so those votes are discounted. Here are the official results of the late 1970's poll:

Advances to Round 2 Ballots Points Percent
Ted Simmons 20 20 95.2%
Bert Blyleven 20 19.5 92.9%
Dave Parker 14 13.5 64.3%
Darrell Evans 13 13 61.9%
Bobby Grich 13 13 61.9%
Graig Nettles 11 11 52.4%
At-large Candidates
Dave Concepcion 8 8 38.1%
Steve Garvey 7 7 33.3%
Fred Lynn 4 4 19.0%
Ron Cey 3 3 14.3%
Ken Singleton 3 3 14.3%
Also-Ran
Al Oliver 3 2.5 11.9%
Cesar Cedeno 2 2 9.5%
George Foster 2 2 9.5%
Greg Luzinski 0 0 0.0%
Darrell Porter 0 0 0.0%
Rick Reuschel 0 0 0.0%
Gene Tenace 0 0 0.0%

[Paul Wendt]

Blyleven
Grich
Evans
Simmons

To round out the ballot I went with Concepcion and Nettles, even though I don't generally support their election. I do consider them reasonable "grey area" candidates.

Yes, that's the correct six-pack.
add: We also have the same number of posts. I have sprinted this winter to catch up but it's a marathon.

The group almost got it right --almost if we count candidates but Parker scored almost twice as many votes as Concepcion.

I am not surprised Parker is a winner, but surprised he ranks third, and "surprised" he is one of four in the BaseBall Fever Hall of Fame. (I am a voter there, which is one Sticky at the top of this forum. Nettles and Evans are on my ballot. Concepcion is in the vicinity. But Parker would not be there, if he were still in the pool.)

[Windy City Fan]

Parker is a reasonable "grey area" guy in my book. He almostly certainly would be a HoFer if he stayed away from drugs. Some people raise that as a point in his favor, but I have less sympathy for guys who waste their talent through their own stupidity.

The ones I really wanted to see make it were Blyleven, Grich, and Simmons as they are the 3 really obvious candidates that have been overlooked.