Surprising baseball facts

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

What you say about Travis has always been the biggest strike against him.

With Mel, it's the old, "Well, if he played in New York, he'd have been a shoe-in!" argument. Alas, Mel was with the lowly Indians for his entire career, retiring the season before he'd perhaps have had a chance to win a WS ring as a player. I supposed the same could be said for Travis, as he played in Washington, but I think the argument is stronger in this regard for a 20-year career, single team man.

I agree with your assessments as to why they're not in, and most certainly why they weren't good candidates immediately following their careers, but the "why not's" are also there and they always looked like solid picks as VC selections. Lots of worse and more embarrassing selections, to be certain. I would not be embarrassed to see these two guys voted in.

Originally Posted by molenick

I saw that four were elected that year, but apparently they could elect two "regular" veterans, plus (in two separate ballots) one from the 19th century and one Negro Leaguer. At least if I am understanding the rules correctly. As for the actual voting, I can't find the totals.

Neither would be the worst picks made by the Veterans Committee that's for sure.

Without seeing the actual voting results, I find it hard to believe Harder really got 75% of the vote but didn't get inducted. Given how much discussion there is about Hall of Fame voting every year, I would think something like that happening would be more documented and written about than just a few claims that it happened without any real evidence provided. I could be wrong because the Veterans Committee voting was not always well reported, but it seems like something like that happening would be well known.