Joe Gordon, now a HOF member !
jaxxr
Posts: 1,258 ✭✭
in Sports Talk
I believe the voting on both the old, and fairly recent groups is final.
Only Joe Gordon made it from either group.
A decent, reasonable selection, the voters do like Joe, he once beat out Ted Williams, who won a batting triple crown, for MVP, many years back.
In my opinion, Bill Dahlen, Gil Hodges, and Ron Santo might have been better selections, although the HOF once again failed to mail me a ballot, however the HOF is not an exact measure of anything, so congrats to Gordon and all his supporters.
Only Joe Gordon made it from either group.
A decent, reasonable selection, the voters do like Joe, he once beat out Ted Williams, who won a batting triple crown, for MVP, many years back.
In my opinion, Bill Dahlen, Gil Hodges, and Ron Santo might have been better selections, although the HOF once again failed to mail me a ballot, however the HOF is not an exact measure of anything, so congrats to Gordon and all his supporters.
This aint no party,... this aint no disco,.. this aint no fooling around.
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I go back and forth about second baseman Joe Gordon. He finished with only 1,530 hits and played in only 11 seasons. But Gordon missed prime two seasons during World War II, and in nine of his 11 seasons he was an All-Star. In those 11 seasons he hit 253 home runs, still good for sixth among second basemen on the all-time list. And he was, by all accounts, a brilliant fielder. Does all that add up to Cooperstown? Ask me next week.
Brian
I do think this is a perfect example of what Yankee haters call "Yankee Bias": being rewarded simply for playing for The Yanks. I see Yankee pitcher Allie Reynolds (who I would've picked over Gordon) missed the H.O.F. this year by only one vote. And while I understand this peticluar committee was looking at players who's career started before 1943, a Yankee who should be in before Gordon & Reynolds is Roger Maris.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Former second baseman Joe Gordon was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee on Monday, while another panel shut out the likes of Joe Torre, Ron Santo and Gil Hodges.
Gordon, a nine-time All-Star and five-time World Series winner with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians, was picked by a 12-member committee that only looked at players who started before 1943.
But a panel made up of the living 64 Hall of Famers failed to pick anyone who began their careers after World War II. It took 75 percent for election and no one came close -- Santo got 61 percent, followed by Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Hodges and Torre.
"When our board of directors restructured the Veterans Committee after the 2007 election, it did so with the goal of ensuring the voters the living Hall of Famers would review their peers," Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark said. "The process was not redesigned with the goal of necessarily electing someone."
The results were announced at the baseball winter meetings in Las Vegas.
Gordon got 10 votes -- one more than needed -- and joined a host of past teammates in the Hall. He began his career with Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey and other stars on the 1938 Yankees team that won the World Series, and finished with Bob Feller and more Cleveland luminaries in 1950.
Gordon was the 1942 AL MVP and hit .268 overall with 253 home runs and 975 RBIs, big power numbers for second basemen in that era. He died in 1978.
Pitcher Allie Reynolds, traded from Cleveland to the Yankees for Gordon after the 1946, fell one vote short of election.
Post 1942 results: (48 votes needed for election)
Ron Santo: 39 votes, 60.9%
Jim Kaat: 38, 59.4%
Tony Oliva: 33, 51.6%
Gil Hodges: 28, 43.8%
Joe Torre: 19, 29.7%
Maury Wills: 15, 23.4%
Luis Tiant: 13, 20.3%
Vada Pinson: 12, 18.8%
Al Oliver: 9, 14.1%
Dick Allen: 7, 10.9%
Pre 1943 results: (9 votes needed for election)
Joe Gordon: 10 votes
Allie Reynolds: 8
Wes Ferrell: 6
Mickey Vernon: 5
Deacon White: 5
Bucky Walters: 4
Sherry Magee: 3
Bill Dahlen: < 3
Carl Mays: < 3
Vern Stephens: < 3
But really, it seems a little easier to have nine old men agree on something than the 48 needed for the other guys.
Gordon got in. I'm not on him either way. Short career, but two prime years missed due to war is a plus in my book.
He has been dead for a while, kind of loses its luster for him. THe family could be proud though.
It looks like Santo's family may be the ones reaping the benefits too.
Steve
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DiMaggio - He finally got in.