Above, you will find a blank bracket that you can use to predict the winners in our eventual coaches' poll. And don't forget that you can vote already for the 'play-in' matchup between George Davis and John Clarkson, to see who gets the final 16-seed in the Infielders Region.
I highly recommend that you DO NOT try "penning" them onto the .jpg using MS-Paint, but maybe some other photoshop program wouldn't take as long. Here is what took me an hour to "handwrite":
[UPDATE: April 2nd]
The first round of polling now complete, we can see that there were many upsets and several places where my own predicted backet was busted. Here are the results:
[UPDATE: April 8th]
After two rounds, we have narrowed things down to the Sweet Sixteen. My own personal bracket (above) is now thoroughly busted, as Babe Ruth was upset by Ted Williams. Here are the rest of the scores:
[UPDATE: April 10th]
After three rounds, we are down to the Elite Eight, with each "region" pitting its two "best" players against each other. Here is the new bracket:
[UPDATE: April 11th]
After four rounds, we have finally reached the Final Four, with no two same seeds having advanced this far. We are down to a single one-seed (Cy Young), and single two-seed (Rogers Hornsby), a single five-seed (Christy Mathewson), and the nominal Cinderella, Ted Williams, the eight-seed from the Outfielders. Here are the deets:
[UPDATE: April 13th]
Just to wrap things up over here on the blog, we ended up voting, 5 to 1, for Cy Young as the top pitcher, and voted 4 to 2 for Ted Williams as the top hitter. We followed that up with Ted Williams besting Cy Young by 4 votes to 2, to capture the title of Best Baller in Baseball History.
Thanks to all for participating in this lengthy, and not always interesting exercise.
2x National League MVP (1982, 1983) 2x National League Home Run Crown winner (1984, 1985) 2x National League RBI Crown winner (1982, 1983) 5x National League Gold Glove Award winner (1982-1986) 4x National League Silver Slugger Award winner (1982-1985) 7x All-Star (1980, 1982-1987)
9. "Sliding" Billy Hamilton(Kansas City Cowboys, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Beaneaters 1888-1901) 1591 GP, 6268 AB, 1690 R, 2158 H, 242 D, 94 T, 40 HR, 736 RBI, 912 SB, .344 AVG, .926 FPCT
2x National League Batting Crown winner (1891, 1893) Hall of Fame 1961
8. Duke "The Silver Fox" Snider(Brooklyn Dodgers, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants 1947-1964) 2143 GP, 7161 AB, 1259 R, 2116 H, 358 D, 85 T, 407 HR, 1333 RBI, 99 SB, .295 AVG, .985 FPCT
TSN Player of the Year Award winner (1955) National League Home Run Crown winner (1956) National League RBI Crown winner (1955) 2x World Series Champion (1955, 1959) 8x All-Star (1950-1956, 1963) Hall of Fame 1980
TSN Player of the Year Award winner (1939) 3x American League MVP (1939, 1941, 1947) 2x American League Batting Crown winner (1939, 1940) 2x American League Home Run Crown winner (1937, 1948) 2x American League RBI Crwon winner (1941, 1948) 9x World Series Champion 13x All-Star (1936-1942, 1946-1951) Hall of Fame 1955
American League Batting Crown winner (1990) American League RBI Crown winner (1994) ALCS MVP (1991) All-Star Game MVP (1993) 6x Gold Glove Award winner (1986-1989, 1991, 1992) 6x Silver Slugger Award winner (1986-1989, 1992, 1994) 2x World Series Champion (1987, 1991) 10x All-Star (1986-1995) Hall of Fame 2001
5. Tris "The Grey Eagle" Speaker(Boston Americans, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, Philadelphia Athletics 1907-1928) 2789 GP, 10195 AB, 1882 R, 3514 H, 792 Doubles*, 222 T, 117 HR, 1529 RBI, 432 SB, .345 AVG, .971 FPCT
Holds MLB Record for career Doubles (792) American League MVP (1912) American League Batting Crown winner (1916) American League Home Run Crown winner (1912) 3x World Series Champion (1912, 1915, 1920) Hall of Fame 1937
Won American League's 7th of 9 Triple Crowns; MLB's 14th of 16 (1956) TSN Player of the Year Award winner (1956) 3x American League MVP (1956, 1957, 1962) 4x American League Home Run Crown winner (1955, 1956, 1958, 1960) American League Gold Glove Award winner (1962) 7x World Series Champion 16x All-Star (1952-1965, 1967, 1968) Hall of Fame 1974
TSN Player of the Year Award winner (1997) American League MVP (1997) 4x American League Home Run Crown winner (1994, 1997-1999) American League RBI Crown winner (1997) All-Star Game MVP (1992) 10x American League Gold Glove Award winner (1990-1999) 7x American League Silver Slugger Award (1991, 1993, 1994, 1996-1999) 13x All-Star (1990-2000, 2004, 2007)
2. Willie "The Say Hey Kid" Mays(New York Giants, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets 1951-1973) 2992 GP, 10881 AB, 2062 R, 3283 H, 523 D, 140 T, 660 HR, 1903 RBI, 338 SB, .302 AVG, .981 FPCT
2x National League Rookie of the Year Award winner (1951) TSN Player of the Year Award winner (1954) 2x National League MVP (1954, 1965) National League Batting Crown winner (1954) 4x National League Home Run Crown winner (1955, 1962, 1964, 1965) 2x All-Star Game MVP (1963, 1968) Won first 12 National League Gold Glove Awards (1957-1968) World Series Champion (1954) 20x All-Star (1954-1973) Hall of Fame 1979
Holds MLB record for career Batting Average (.366) Won American League's 2nd of 9 Triple Crowns; MLB's 5th of 16 (1909) American League's original MVP (1911) 11x American League Batting Crown winner (1907-1912, 1914, 1915, 1917, 1925) 4x American League RBI Crown winner (1907-1909, 1911) Inaugural Hall of Fame class (1936)
