Marty and the Hall of Fame

Oh, Marty! Why Hasn't the Hall of Fame Been Opened To You?

by Paul Semendinger

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Note - This article, the first in a series of three articles, was published by the IBWAA in their newsletter Here's The Pitch last month.

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The other day I was doing research, baseball research.  It seems that I'm always doing some sort of baseball research...

This specific task had me looking at the Top 10 vote-getters for the Baseball Hall of Fame year-by-year dating back to 1970.  As I looked at the list of the top ten vote-getters, year-in and year-out, I noticed something very interesting: most of the players who made it into the top ten in any given year eventually made it into Cooperstown.

For example, in 1970, all but one of the top ten vote-getters have earned enshrinement.  The top vote-getters were: Lou Boudreau, Ralph Kiner, Gil Hodges, Early Wynn, Enos Slaughter, Johnny Mize, Red Schoendienst, Pee Wee Reese, and George Kell.  The only one of the top ten vote-getters from 1970 who is not in the Hall of Fame is Marty Marion.  

This pattern continued for many years.

A quick review of the year-by-year voting is as follows:

1971 - 8 enshrined, the two excluded are Marty Marion (again) and Allie Reynolds

1972 - 9 enshrined, Marty Marion is the lone exception

1973 - 9 enshrined, Marty Marion is (yet again) the lone exception

1974 - All 10 are in the Hall of Fame

1975 - 9 enshrined, Phil Cavarretta is the lone exception

1976 - All 10 are in the Hall of Fame

1977 - All 10 are in the Hall of Fame

1978 - All 10 are in the Hall of Fame

1979 - 9 enshrined, Maury Wills is the lone exception.

In the entire decade of the 1970s, only four players — Marty Marion, Allie Reynolds, Phil Cavarretta, and Maury Wills — finished in the top ten of vote-getters for the Hall of Fame and never made it across the threshold.

This trend continued through the mid-1980s:

1980 and 1981 - Only Maury Wills has been excluded

1982 - All 10 are in the Hall of Fame

1983 - All 10 are in the Hall of Fame

1984 - 9 enshrined, with Roger Maris is the lone exception

1985 - 8 enshrined; Maris and Harvey Kuenn the exceptions

1986 - 7 enshrined, Maris, Kuenn, and Wills are the exceptions

The ballots from 1987 and beyond are loaded with players yet to reach Cooperstown's hallowed halls, but with my interest piqued, I decided to then look backwards from 1970. The results:

1969 - 8 enshrined, the two excluded are Marty Marion and Allie Reynolds

1968 - 8 enshrined, the two excluded are Marion and Reynolds

1967 - 9 enshrined, Marion the lone exception

1966 - 9 enshrined, Marion the lone exception

1965 - It seems there wasn't a vote that year

1964 - 9 enshrined, Johnny Vander Meer is the lone exception

1963 - No vote 

1962 - All 10 are in the Hall of Fame

1961 - No vote

1960 -  All 10 are in the Hall of Fame

For a quarter of a century, the list of players able to reach the top ten in Hall of Fame voting in multiple years, and never gain enshrinement, is limited to a precious few:

Marty Marion - 8 times

Maury Wills - 4 times

Roger Maris - 3 times

Allie Reynolds - 3 times

I began to wonder what it was about Marty Marion that made him, over a 25-year period, a player who was consistently able to gain enough votes to be a top ten vote-getter, but never earn the ultimate selection, while the vast majority of other players who also reached the top ten were able to make it.  

No player reached the top ten more times than Marty Marion in this period without gaining inclusion in the Hall of Fame. 

I needed to learn more.

Does Marty Marion belong in Cooperstown? Is he the biggest Hall of Fame snub of all-time?

My next article will answer that question.

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Dr. Paul Semendinger is a life-long educator.  He has served at every level of education from elementary school through college.  Paul spent over 25 years as a building principal, is now retired, but still serves as an adjunct professor.  Paul has written a host of books:  Scattering the Ashes, 365.2: Going the Distance, Impossible is an Illusion, The Least Among Them, and From Compton to the Bronx (with Roy White).