23 replies to this topic

[Infield Infidel]

Fenway 100: Greatest Living Red Sox

With this being the 100^th Anniversary of Fenway Park, and seeing all the big names and no-names that visited Fenway on April 20, it got me thinking, if they could only invite the 100 greatest living Red Sox to Fenway 100, who should they invite?

After running it by abs, the following will be the format.

Nominations:
Each week, there will be a nomination thread and a poll for each position. Nominations are accepted Monday 9am ET to Wednesday midnight, voting is Thurs 9am ET to Monday 9am ET. For each thread, each poster can list up to 5 players for nominations; up to 20 players, those with the most nominations, will be included for voting.

Nomination Criteria:
The mandatory criteria is that the person is alive, and played in 40 games at that position for the Red Sox, or pitched 30 innings as a starter or 20 innings in relief. You can use any other criteria you want to define “greatness.”

Voting:
Position players (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, DH):
57 position players will be accepted. For each position, each poster votes for a minimum of 5 players and a maximum of 10. The top 5 for each position are accepted. After all the positions are in, the top vote-getters not previously selected will be accepted, with no more than 10 per position, until 57 players are selected

Pitchers (RHSP, LHSP, RHRP, LHRP):
40 pitchers will be selected. For starting pitchers (RHSP and LHSP) each poster votes for a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 15. The top 10 for each are accepted.
For relief pitchers (RHRP/LHRP), each poster votes for a minimum of 5 players and a maximum of 10. The top 5 for each are accepted. The top vote-getters for all pitchers not previously selected will fill out the pitching roster, with no more than 15 RHSP or LHSP, or 10 RHRP or LHRP, until 40 pitchers are selected.

Managers: Three managers will be selected. Posters can nominate two managers, anyone who is alive and managed at least two games. For the poll, you vote for the top 3, and the top 3 vote-getters are selected.

The first nomination thread, for catchers, will start Monday.

Edited by Infield Infidel, 21 June 2012 - 04:38 AM.

[Red(s)HawksFan]

This should be a fun exercise, and a welcome distraction from the team on the field right now.

Just for the sake of having an easy reference point for nominations, we probably would do well to take another look at the Top 100 Red Sox Players of All-Time polling done here three years ago. Obviously, those are the top 100 dead or alive, so there will be plenty of room for new nominations in this exercise.

[FenwayFrenzy]

Great idea, thanks for starting the thread.

One point of clarification: how will you handle those who have played multiple positions in a Sox uniform? For instance, Youk?

[Infield Infidel]

Good question. 40 games at that position, and 30 innings as a starter or 20 innings as a reliever. updating the initial post

Edited by Infield Infidel, 11 May 2012 - 09:19 AM.

[Hendu's Gait]

by excepted, you mean accepted?

[Hendu's Gait]

also, LF is going to get screwed in this exercise, even with Teddy dead, and C and DH will get too much credit, IMHO.

Edited by Hendu's Gait, 11 May 2012 - 09:28 AM.

[Infield Infidel]

Remember, for each position, you can vote for up to ten players, but if you only think there are 5 worthy players, you can choose to only vote for 5.
some positions will likely only get 5 or 6 players, but LF could get up to 10, if 10 players get a lot of votes. Mainly, I'm trying to reflect the proportionality of a baseball team.

I might tweak DH though, to accept anyone who's ever DH'd, or had a negative UZR, or something. It is last after all

[Hendu's Gait]

the 12 at-larges for LF and a couple of the other positions will have fierce competition, and I just anticipate the #13 at-large to be a better player than the #5 C, etc.

Edited by Hendu's Gait, 11 May 2012 - 09:54 AM.

[Yaz4Ever]

the 12 at-larges for LF and a couple of the other positions will have fierce competition, and I just anticipate the #13 at-large to be a better player than the #5 C, etc.

Can Yaz win for both LF and 1B?

[GreenMonsterVsGodzilla]

How does one find out which players are still living? Is there a "Dead or Not" site for baseball?
May sound flip, but it's actually a serious question.

[Rasputin]

How does one find out which players are still living? Is there a "Dead or Not" site for baseball?
May sound flip, but it's actually a serious question.

baseballreference.com can handle that for ya.

[Red(s)HawksFan]

How does one find out which players are still living? Is there a "Dead or Not" site for baseball?
May sound flip, but it's actually a serious question.

Baseball Reference lists birth, and when appropriate, death dates for players. Seems a good enough place to use for verification.

[Infield Infidel]

Catchers:



Jason Varitek 104 votes
Carlton Fisk 102
Rich Gedman 65
Tony Pena 48
Victor Martinez 43
------------------
Mike Stanley 28
Doug Mirabelli 16

[Infield Infidel]

First Basemen

Mo Vaughn 92 votes
Kevin Youkilis 76
George Scott 65
Carl Yastrzemski 62
David Ortiz 60
Adrian Gonzalez 50
Kevin Millar 35
-----------------------
Bill Buckner 30
Cecil Cooper 29
Brian Daubach 14

Edited by Infield Infidel, 31 July 2012 - 07:22 PM.

[Infield Infidel]

Second Base



Dustin Pedroia 58 votes
Bobby Doerr 57
Marty Barrett 36
Mark Bellhorn 33
Jody Reed 31
----------------------------------
Jerry Remy 28
Mike Andrews 21

[Infield Infidel]

Third Base

Wade Boggs 64 votes
Mike Lowell 54
Bill Mueller 53
Rico Petrocelli 31
Carney Lansford 29
------------------------
Frank Malzone 28
John Valentin 23

[Infield Infidel]

Shortstop

Nomar Garciaparra 82 votes
Johnny Pesky 72
John Valentin 68
Rick Burleson 58
Luis Aparicio 35
------------------------------
Orlando Cabrera 29
Eddie Bressoud 18

[Infield Infidel]

Left Field

Manny Ramirez 66 votes
Carl Yastrzemski 65
Jim Rice 62
Mike Greenwell 55
Troy O'Leary 29
-------------------------
Bernie Carbo 19
Jason Bay 15

[Infield Infidel]

Center Field


Fred Lynn 51 votes
Johnny Damon 44
Jacoby Ellsbury 40
Ellis Burks 36
Reggie Smith 34
--------------------
Jimmy Piersall 25
Tony Armas 17

[Bucknahs Bum Ankle]

After all the positions are in, the top vote-getters not previously selected will be accepted, with no more than 10 per position, until 57 players are selected

The top vote-getters for all pitchers not previously selected will fill out the pitching roster, with no more than 15 RHSP or LHSP, or 10 RHRP or LHRP, until 40 pitchers are selected.

I just wanted to chime in to note that I hope a percentage of total votes for the position, rather than just total votes, can be used to determine the players who will fill out the roster. To date, Varitek is the leading vote-getter, but it's pretty clear to me that's only because the catcher position went first and interest in voting has apparently waned. I find it hard to believe that that anyone would vote Varitek (104 votes) as a greater living Red Sox than the likes of Nomar (88), Manny (66), Yaz (65), Rice (62), or Lynn (51). So Mike Stanley's 28 votes (6th best C) should probably not be equal to Jerry Remy's 28 votes (6th best 2B), Frank Malzone's 28 votes (6th best 3B), or Orlando Cabrera's 29 votes (6th best SS).

[Infield Infidel]

Right Field

Dwight Evans 51 votes
Trot Nixon 44
J.D. Drew 42
Jimmy Piersall 29
Bernie Carbo 23
---------------------
Tom Brunansky 21
Ken Harrelson 13

[Infield Infidel]

I just wanted to chime in to note that I hope a percentage of total votes for the position, rather than just total votes, can be used to determine the players who will fill out the roster. To date, Varitek is the leading vote-getter, but it's pretty clear to me that's only because the catcher position went first and interest in voting has apparently waned. I find it hard to believe that that anyone would vote Varitek (104 votes) as a greater living Red Sox than the likes of Nomar (88), Manny (66), Yaz (65), Rice (62), or Lynn (51). So Mike Stanley's 28 votes (6th best C) should probably not be equal to Jerry Remy's 28 votes (6th best 2B), Frank Malzone's 28 votes (6th best 3B), or Orlando Cabrera's 29 votes (6th best SS).

I hadn't seen this, and I think it's a good idea. Also, I think it would be a good way to differentiate those who were voted in, and those that will fill out the roster

The negative though is it penalizes players at more populated positions. I'll have stew on it.

What do others think?

Edited by Infield Infidel, 25 July 2012 - 04:19 PM.

[Infield Infidel]

Papi pulled off of 1B, and nominated for DH

[Infield Infidel]

I just wanted to chime in to note that I hope a percentage of total votes for the position, rather than just total votes, can be used to determine the players who will fill out the roster. To date, Varitek is the leading vote-getter, but it's pretty clear to me that's only because the catcher position went first and interest in voting has apparently waned. I find it hard to believe that that anyone would vote Varitek (104 votes) as a greater living Red Sox than the likes of Nomar (88), Manny (66), Yaz (65), Rice (62), or Lynn (51). So Mike Stanley's 28 votes (6th best C) should probably not be equal to Jerry Remy's 28 votes (6th best 2B), Frank Malzone's 28 votes (6th best 3B), or Orlando Cabrera's 29 votes (6th best SS).

Yeah, this is a go. I'll use percentage instead of votes.