Womack: The 25 most important people in baseball history
From SABR member Graham Womack at Baseball Past and Present on November 10, 2014:
Full voting results for this project can be found here. A list of the 262 voters for this project can be found here.
More than 17,000 people have played Major League Baseball. Countless others have contributed to the game from working in front offices to writing about baseball and more. It’s hard to say who matters most, players or everyone else and it’s an age-old debate. Personally, I believe both groups are important. Few people can play at the highest level. And without a range of support, they wouldn’t do so professionally, at least not in a league that generates close to $10 billion annually.
That said, I decided recently to take this debate public. I spent several weeks asking anyone interested to select the 25 most important people in baseball history. I distributed a 190-person reference ballot with write-in candidates welcome and anyone eligible. There wasn’t a set criteria for importance. I prefer that voters for my projects work independently and make their own determinations.
In all, 262 people voted in this project. Here’s how the top 25 came out.
Read the full article here: http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2014/11/10/25-important-people-baseball-history/
Originally published: November 10, 2014. Last Updated: November 10, 2014.