The 25 most important people in baseball history

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Jocephus
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The 25 most important people in baseball history

Post by Jocephus »

More than 17,000 people have played Major League Baseball. Countless others have contributed to the game from working in front offices to writing about baseball and more. It’s hard to say who matters most, players or everyone else and it’s an age-old debate. Personally, I believe both groups are important. Few people can play at the highest level. And without a range of support, they wouldn’t do so professionally, at least not in a league that generates close to $10 billion annually.

That said, I decided recently to take this debate public. I spent several weeks asking anyone interested to select the 25 most important people in baseball history. I distributed a 190-person reference ballot with write-in candidates welcome and anyone eligible. There wasn’t a set criteria for importance. I prefer that voters for my projects work independently and make their own determinations.

In all, 262 people voted in this project. Here’s how the top 25 came out:
http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2014/ ... l-history/
^
Approximately 332 people received at least one vote in this project. Full voting results can be found here.
Thanks again to everyone who voted. Names of the 262 voters are listed here.
To see people explain their votes, make sure to check out these posts.

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Molly
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Re: The 25 most important people in baseball history

Post by Molly »

Surprised Jackie Robinson is #2 and not #1.

jim
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Re: The 25 most important people in baseball history

Post by jim »

I would have said Rickey 1, with Robinson 2. Spalding is way too low, Bill James is way too high. Buck O'Neil should be in the top 25.

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slide_into_first
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Re: The 25 most important people in baseball history

Post by slide_into_first »

No Derek Jeter?

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Hoot45
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Re: The 25 most important people in baseball history

Post by Hoot45 »

slide_into_first wrote:No Derek Jeter?
It's the 25 most important people in baseball history, not the 25 most important gods in human history.

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Radbird
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Re: The 25 most important people in baseball history

Post by Radbird »

Glad to see Flood and Clemente on the list. I think an argument could be made for Gibson. The mound would be 5" higher if it weren't for him. :cool:

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Hoot45
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Re: The 25 most important people in baseball history

Post by Hoot45 »

Radbird wrote:I think an argument could be made for Gibson. The mound would be 5" higher if it weren't for him. :cool:
Good point. Looks like Gibson got 20 votes and finished tied for 64th.

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