Template talk:BBWAA balloting key

Display template beside table?
This template displays the Key to a table that is always narrow, perhaps 1/5 to 1/3 of page-width for most visitors. Should we display it beside rather than above or below the table? I think so.

For illustration see Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 2013 (current year only) where I have moved the template from above/preceding the table to the second of two multicols. --P64 (talk) 16:48, 10 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Technically we can display the Key at left and the table at right. We can add other content to the column that includes the rather short Key. I have not illustrated either possibility. --P64 (talk) 18:02, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Revise explanation of color code
I have revised the explanations, motivated primarily to shorten them but not limited to that! At least in last year's article Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 2012, we explain the table's use of bold italics and plain italics both in the text and in the Key. I didn't notice that before revising the Key; offhand I say explanation belongs in the Key only.

Technically we can set the width of the results table at little more than what it needs, and thus (for almost all visitors) leave more horizontal space for the Key.

Technically we can provide a link to next year's article using the date parameter.
 * ✅ in context "Renominated for the [next year] BBWAA election" --P64 (talk) 02:30, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Perhaps we can link the previous year's balloting using that parameter. (I know nothing about incorporation of arithmetic such as "date minus 2" in a template.)

Eliminated from BBWAA voting ... (pink background) — This explanation is longer than the others yet it may not be adequate for all BBWAA ballots. Certainly it doesn't cover all Veterans Committees. As I say by comment in the template code, it may need to be tailored for particular uses, presumably by a second parameter that provides [either] text to replace the default or text for a footnote.
 * Or we may use more than one template --template and variants (section 4). -P64 2013-07-17

--P64 (talk) 18:02, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Extend key to cover symbols
I have extended the key (revised this template) to cover the two symbols * and &dagger. The article text should simply reference them in parentheses (*) (†) where appropriate rather than spell out explanations such as "Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a &dagger;" --quoting Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 2012.
 * ✅ --P64 (talk) 02:30, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

--P64 (talk) 18:02, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Scope of template and variants
I suppose that no version of this template will be transcluded outside the Baseball Hall of Fame balloting series covered by Template: Baseball Hall of Fame. It is now transcluded in the 2007 to 2013 articles only (extremely limited use that I didn't notice in January). Before 2007 we have a "Key to colors" wikitable in every article. I haven't studied how the table does vary from 1936 to 2006 or how it should vary in order to be adequate.

I think most of the balloting series should use this template or this and a few variants, rather than a wikitable in every article. I suggest placing it beside the top of the BBWAA balloting table, rather than above it (section 1 above); moving any illustrations downward, see Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1936 for example.

--P64 (talk) 17:13, 17 July 2013 (UTC)


 * After revising the template in January, I posted notice and cross-reference at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Baseball/Hall of Fame task force. Expanded in July. No reply to date. The task force may be dead.
 * --P64 (talk) 21:13, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

†
Why are the †'s next to players names to denote players who are on the ballot for the first time on the charts? The right hand column clearly indicates whether this is the players 1st, 2d, 3d, etc... time on the ballot. This seems redundant. Kinston eagle (talk) 13:28, 4 December 2013 (UTC)


 * This template appears in our balloting articles only back to 2007 (template usage). History of the 2007 article shows that a color-key table was inserted only by User:164.67.44.82 in January 2011 and it was replaced by this template only by User:Natg 19 in January 2013 —which remains the latest revision today.


 * Columns four and five (Change, Year) appear in our BBWAA balloting tables only from 2009. History of the 2009 article shows that they were added only by User:Phbasketball6 in August 2013 —which remains the latest revision today. (The two latest revisions of the 2009 article were insertion of the template and expansion of the table, this January and August.)


 * The dagger (†) appears in column one (Name) from 1958, when the printed list of candidates was introduced—not a ballot but the first or second step toward a ballot. In the 1958 article, that dates from September 2010—by my judgment as well as my hand, but I don't recall whether the symbol is used in all the more recent articles, 1958 to present. Anyway, it predates any use of background color to complement italics, etc.


 * See the preceding section regarding my hope that the revised template will be considered suitable, perhaps with variations, for a long period of time such as 1958 to present.
 * Read the 1955, 1956, and 1958 articles for some understanding why everything is different in the olden days. (1955 begins with a mistake, "players active in 1925 or later, but not after 1949"; DiMaggio played 1950–51 and he was elected that year.)
 * --P64 (talk) 20:24, 4 December 2013 (UTC)


 * New editors have revised the series to include this template BBWAA balloting key back to 2000. --P64 (talk) 22:30, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

Version 3, version 2
User:Bakonydraco revised the template last fortnight. It may be considered version 3, distinguished by the addition of orange background color (bgcolor="#ffddcc"): "Eliminated from annual BBWAA consideration by poor performance or expiration on subsequent ballots."[AND not elected to 2014]

This template now appears in all of the balloting articles back to 2000, with corresponding orange background color in the main table. In turn, that restricts yellow background to players who are on the 2015 ballot—now no one from the 2000 ballot; Don Mattingly alone from 2001; and so on.

Template BBWAA balloting 2 is a recreation of the preceding four-color version with modifications. It now appears in Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1999 alone (except a working edition of the 1967 article in my User space). Our main table of BBWAA election results uses the four colors back to 1967 (contrast 1966).

I revised the 1999 article heavily, primarily in section BBWAA election which I rewrote in ways that go far beyond accommodation of the Key template. And same for 1967 in my user space. 1967–1999 is the obvious scope for use of template version 2 --that is, 1967 to fifteen years ago.

--P64 (talk) 20:58, 23 January 2014 (UTC)