Hall of Fame Survey

The Society for American Baseball Research recently completed a survey of Hall of Fame candidates who made a valuable contribution to baseball outside of playing.  Sixteen sample names of executives, managers, and umpires were provided and members were asked to supply nominees of their own and then vote for five or fewer in order of rank.   Five points were awarded to the person receiving a first-place vote, four points for second, etc.   Sixty-two ballots were submitted and 29 different managers, executives, umpires, and other baseball personalities received at least one vote.   Here are the top vote-getters.

1	Al Lopez	114		10	Frank Selee	33
2	Tom Yawkey	96		11	Barney Dreyfuss	29
3	Leo Durocher	79		12	Charlie Grimm	26
4	William Hulbert	71		13	Donie Bush	21
5	Ned Hanlon	64		14	Bill Dinneen	19
6	Bucky Harris	57		15	John T. Brush	17
7	Bill McGowan	42		16	Billy Southworth	15
8	Warren Giles	37		17	Phil Wrigley	12
9	Jimmy Dykes	34		18	Bill Veeck, Jr.	6

An interim report of this vote was supplied to the Veterans Committee of the Hall of Fame for their consideration in the January 1974 selections.  Obviously, it had no bearing on their selection as they elected Umpire Jocko Conlon.   The umpires are in rather a gray area in the Hall of Fame selections; only a handful have so far been selected.   Four received votes in the SABR survey.  In addition to McGowan and Dinneen above, there were Robert Emslie and Hank O’Day.  In the future, consideration also should be given to those who had a combination of talents such as player-managers Al Lopez, Ned Hanlon, Bucky Harris, Jimmy Dykes, etc.

The above Hall of Fame survey complements the survey conducted by SABR in 1971 on former players who were prime candidates for selection.  Here is a list of the leading vote getters in that survey.  The Society is happy to see that three of the top dozen candidates have now been selected.  There names are encircled:

1	Sam Thompson	136		7	Amos Rusie	51
2	Chuck Klein	115		8	Ernie Lombardi	47
3	Roger Connor	95		9	Jim Bottomley	44
4	Mickey Welch	91		10	Hack Wilson	40
5	Arky Vaughan	56		11	Carl Mays	37
6	Earl Averill	55		12	Harry Stovey	29