If you haven't seen my JAWS thread, you should check it out. Pretty cool comparison tool to real-life MLB players and you can also see where they rank against their own peers. I know I will weigh these heavily when deciding.
viewtopic.php?f=109&t=36477&p=631565#p631565
I don't put a deadline on getting your votes in, hopefully within a week, but please take the time to go through the candidates and make an informed vote by whatever your process is.
This year's ballot consists of twenty-six players. Fifteen carryovers and eleven new nominees.
Voting process and rules are as follows..
--You can PM me your ballot or post it here in this thread. Forum only allows for 10 poll options. Plus no way to track.
--No waiting period after retirement
--75% of all votes received will get a player in. 5% to carry over to next election, 10 seasons max.
--You can vote for zero to ten players, but please vote, even if it's a blank ballot.
--No new teams this year, we should have 30 votes.
The Ballot...
Blacked-out = Not on ballot, Greyed-Out includes that year's results.
The Breakdown..
Keisuke Ando, LF/RF New York
Smacked 241 career homers with an OBP of nearly .400 in just over 1300 career NDL games. Was selected to 3 All-Star games. His time in NPB & USBL was nearly unprecedented. In his four full seasons there between from 2011-2014, he batted .363 with an OBP of .510. Belted 203 HR's and drove in 555 runs while amassing a WAR of 45.3 in just four seasons.
Spoiler!
A power-hitting infielder that enjoyed many fine seasons. Ranks in the Top 20 for his career for both HR's and RBI's and collected 2 Gold Gloves also.
Spoiler!
Premier power hitter whose prime years from 2019-2024 would probably match anyone's high 6 year span. Fielded his position well, winning one H&K and although didn't steal often, 56 SB, was successful when doing so at a 74% clip. He was selected to 5 All-Star games. won a HOTY in 2020 despite playing for 3 different teams that year and he wears two championship rings on his hands.
Spoiler!
Slick-fielding singles-hitting base-stealing machine on some elite Hawks' teams and later with the Windstorm as well. Ranks 10th all-time in hits(3rd all-time in singles) while batting .307 for his career. Won 3 Gold Gloves and could steal a base, ranking #12 in stolen bases with 377 of them.
Spoiler!
Another hitting machine makes the ballot. Franks was a career .316 hitter, good for 10th all-time, and a doubles factory over his career. Hit over 40 doubles 8 times in his career despite never playing more than 143 games in a season. Final tally of 514 is good for 6th all-time and he played in at least 500 games fewer than those in front of him on that list.
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Played his entire career in New York, one of just 5 players in the 400+ HR club. 5-time all-star ranks in the Top 10 career in runs, hits, doubles, HR, RBI, VORP, & WAR.
Spoiler!
His 2017 season , with Philadelphia winning the crown that season, is widely regarded by both VORP and WAR standards to be the best season put together by anyone not named Rodriguez or Cruz. He did this after winning ROTY in 2016 with Sheltown. Leading the way to "Gibbons'd" being the second most coined term in trade talk threads behind "NGR'd". Only player in NDLB history to win a Championship, HOTY, ROTY, H&K, and be selected to All-Star Game(5 times). Career dwindled after leaving Philly, but a special player in NDLB history.
Spoiler!
To me, Long is our version of Bernie Williams. Never really excelled at anything besides being consistently very good. Would never be near the top of leaderboards, but year in and year out, there he was at 8, 9, or 10. Won more titles (5) than All-Stars (2). Top 25 in career runs, hits, BB's, WAR and VORP and ranks 11th in SB's.
Spoiler!
The Hall of Fame loves HR's, RBI's and middle infielders. Lopez is all 3. Seventh in career HR's, eleventh in RBI's, all while playing the middle infield. He did not hit for average, or do anything else exceptionally well, but nearly 400 HR's and over 1200 RBi's from those positions is rare. Won a World Series in 2015 with NorCal, was selected to 2 All-Star games, and won a Gold Glove.
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Quick.. name me the 3 players in NDLB history with 2000+ hits, 300+ HR's, a .300 or better batting average and a slugging percentage over .500.. Rodriguez and Cruz would be on all answers, but the third guy.. Amaya-NO, Barron-NO, Gaudreau-NO. The answer is Pablo Lopez. Lopez gets lost in the shuffle while playing his career moving around from Carolina to Hawaii to Ohio to Cleveland and being in Cruz's shadow in the AL, but this guy tore the cover off the ball for a long time. 5 time All-Star and did win a H&K despite playing DH for most of his career.
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Power-hitting catcher banged out 251 career HR's from the backstop position. What sets him apart from his main rivals of his era? Medine won 5 Gold Gloves while behind the plate! No one else has won more than 2.
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Another new nominee that balanced good offense with great defense. Ramos often remembered for being the #4 guy in Hartford behind Cruz, Wu, and Alvarez. His 7yr peak for WAR is in elite category. When it comes to defensive outfielders in our league's history, conversation often starts and ends between Marty Crow and Ramos. Ramos won 4 Gold Gloves, arguably should have had 5. And this was after winning 5 in High School and the minors.
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5-time All-Star and 2-time champion broke into the bigs in a big way, winning rookie of the year in 2015 after being waived by Sheltown. Had a memorable run in Port Orange before being traded to Louisville in a much hyped trade. Great combination of power and average. Hit 324 HR's and drove in 1082 runs in , a relatively few, 1371 games. Amazingly, did not strike out often. Averaged only 31 K's per 162 games.
Spoiler!
Sanders finished one HR shy of 300 for his career. Compiled a very impressive OPS+ of 137 throughout his career. Helped the Titans' franchise win 2 rings while combining a very good power game with a keen eye at the plate.
Spoiler!
The man who almost broke the NDLB. .366 career average and a .458 career OBP are off the charts. Ranks 14th in VORP and 29th in WAR despite playing in only 995 games. Won ROTY in 2019 while batting .415, but playing in only 99 games. Followed that up with a .416/94-game campaign in 2020. The 6-time All-Star's health was a major concern and downfall as he played in 130+ games just 3 times in his career.
Spoiler!
What sets Amaya apart from most of the other relievers.. a career ERA+ of 193. His K/9 would rank 7th all-time as well as placing 16th all-time in saves. 2022 was his best season, 45 saves with sub-1 ERA and WHIP.
Spoiler!
PAB as he became affectionately known on the forums will now face the test to see if he is truly elite. Nearly 200 wins and a sub-3.50 ERA might do the trick. He was selected to 4 All-Star games and won 2 rings in his career. He ranks 12th in career VORP and 16th in WAR. Had 1 No-Hitter in his career.
Spoiler!
Foster played 15 seasons in the NDL. Won the Seaver award in 2012 with Carolina before signing with Hartford as a free agent. Spent a decade in hitter-friendly Hartford and was a rock there. Allowed just 1 run on a HR in 18 career post-season appearances.
Spoiler!
3-time Seaver winner and 6-time All-star, Garcia was a dominant force throughout his career. Ranks Top 10 in Wins, K's, VORP, and WAR. His 3 Seaver trophies are second only to Hays' 4 trophies.
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Top 20 in carrer K's and WAR. Spent his entire career with Winterfell franchise. Very durable pitcher, 25+ starts 12 times in his career. Had a no-hitter in 2023.
Spoiler!
Morrssey will be my favorite nominee to track this season. He was relief pitcher, so he is facing a huge obstacle there. But when you delve into the numbers, there are some incredible stats. His 108 wins as RP rank 81st overall. A RP with 1720 career K's! That ranks 44th all-time. He is ranked 4th in career ERA while top 6 in WHIP, OAVG, and K/9 and his 1400+ IP should not see him off the qualifying standard. Morrissey was a 5-time All-Star and won a ring with Carolina in 2012.
Spoiler!
Has fallen to 3rd all-time in saves. He spent his entire career with Las Vegas and was selected to 3 All-Star games. He registered a slew of strikeouts to go along with his saves, piling up 1267 K's in 1158 innings. His ERA ranks 13th all-time.
Spoiler!
Rags could be the first #1 overall pick to make into the HOF. His numbers are well-known. Top 10 in Wins, Win %, ERA (among starters). Just outside the Top 10 in K's, VORP, and WAR. Looking at the numbers, he did all this while starting just 364 games. Give him 60-80 more starts like some other elite pitchers had, we could be seeing some record-setting numbers. Rivera was selected to 6 ASG's and won one Seaver award during his career.
Spoiler!
Ruppert was a nomad throughout his career, spending time with 6 different franchises, but he was well-accomplished and teams were willing to pay him. Just missed 3,000 K's, finishing with 2,876. 182 wins and a 3.68 ERA were the final numbers for the 4-time All-Star and 2018 World Series winner.
Spoiler!
Started just 281 games in his career and his lack of stamina probably cost him a lot of wins, but finished his career with an amazing 135-69 record and an ERA of 3.33. Was selected to 5 ASG's and helped lead Chicago to 2 World Series titles.
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Thrillseeker compiled 2000+ K's in his career while posting a sub-4 ERA. Managers were not afraid to give him the rock, he finished his career with 27 CG's.
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^^Career totals^^
^^test scores^^
A further breakdown of what the test scores entail could be found by clicking on the link.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/about ... sary.shtml
Ink tests measure leaderboard appearances. Standards score is 100 max, 50 is supposedly average HOF'er. Monitor score is suppose to tell likelihood of induction, not if deserved. 100 is very likely, 130 is a virtual cinch.
^^career ranks for batters &pitchers.^^
--Blue = top 10, green = top 25. Purple= Does not qualify for leaderboard.
--Era(s) is ranking of ERA out of the 337 starters with at least 100 career NDL starts
^^ Relievers don't have a Hall of Fame standards score, as they don't have any set standards, so I put up a chart of the 5 MLB relievers in the HOF and 3 most likely to get in at the end, if you wish to compare.^^
Spoiler!
-- A chart with the 162 game averages of the last 22 batters(including Craig Biggio) inducted in MLB HOF is in spoiler tag for comparison^^
