John McGraw was the outstanding baseball personage born in 1873; Honus Wagner in 1874; and Nap Lajoie in 1875. But what about 1876? As there was no clear-cut choice, Society members were asked to vote for three in a list of ten provided for the balloting.

    It was a two-way race with Mordecai Brown edging Rube Waddell 364 points to 306. Far behind in third place was Sam Breadon, St. Louis magnate whose Cardinals won 7 pennants in the quarter century he was president. There were 106 ballots returned. Five points were given for a first place vote; three for second; and one for third. Here are the final results.

         Points     Baseball Personage

         364        Mordecai Brown, pitcher

         306        Rube Waddell, pitcher

          87          Sam Breadon, club president

          50          Bill Dinneen, pitcher and umpire

          38          Elmer Flick, outfielder

          33          Victor Willis, pitcher

          17          Joe Williams, Negro League hurler

          17          Pat Moran, catcher and manager

          14          Bill Donovan, pitcher and manager

           3           Ginger Beaumont, outfielder