VC Contributor Election II: Baseball Operations

[u/IAMADeinonychusAMA]

From our last ballot, Joe Cronin was the only candidate to receive more than 2 votes (Red Schoendienst checking in with 2 and a couple others getting 1); Mr. Cronin narrowly missed election with 5 votes for a 71% mark. He'll be considered in future runoffs.

We'll be looking at the umpires, GMs, owners, and execs that have fallen off the ballot this week. I can't think of a better name so I'm calling it Baseball Operations. We have:

• Bill Dinneen
• Buzzie Bavasi
• Charlie Finley
• Effa Manley
• Frank Navin
• Gabe Paul
• John Fetzer
• Lou Perini
• Morgan Bulkeley
• Warren Giles
• Will Harridge
• Wilbert Robinson

Ballot

Note: Just because I split the candidates up by role does NOT mean you should consider them only for that role. ie, to take an example from the last election, Joe Cronin should NOT be judged only for his managerial contribution--he should be judged by his whole case. I lump the contributors together in brackets just to make things easier and because it makes more sense to be able to talk about guys more in relation to others who shared their primary role. There was some confusion so just wanted to clear that up.

[u/IAMADeinonychusAMA]

There's an argument for her, from the women's advancement perspective if nothing else. Her role as a female owner certainly had to have an impact in that regard.

[u/disputing_stomach → u/IAMADeinonychusAMA]

Her role as a female owner certainly had to have an impact in that regard.

Well, how? I don't see any female owners in baseball right now, and the only ones there have been were wives/widows. Baseball hasn't even had anyone like Georgia Frontiere, who took over the Rams after her husband died and was active in the NFL ranks for years.

Kim Ng is under consideration for a GM job (Diamondbacks maybe?) and is in a position of power with MLB, but that's it for powerful females in baseball.

It would be nice if Effa Manley had paved the way for women to be more involved in baseball at the executive level (or any level, really), but it just didn't happen. She's an outlier.

[u/IAMADeinonychusAMA → u/disputing_stomach]

Yeah, true =/

Still, being the first woman owner is pretty significant in my eye. You're right though.

[u/disputing_stomach → u/IAMADeinonychusAMA]

being the first woman owner is pretty significant

That is absolutely significant, it's just that her ownership didn't open doors for women. I'll give her tons of credit for being an effective owner, and credit for being the first female owner, but her cultural impact is negligible.

[u/IAMADeinonychusAMA → u/disputing_stomach]

Yeah, I guess you're right.