On the day after the conclusion of the thrilling 7th Game of the World Series, with all of the media pomp and circumstance of a trade of triple-A utility infielders, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced nine players and one executive who were nominated to be considered for induction into the Hall. The ten candidates are part of the “Golden Era” ballot (a modern version of yesteryear’s Veterans’ Committee), which considers players, managers or executives whose primary impact on the game occurred between 1947-1972.
The ten nominated men are Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Billy Pierce, Luis Tiant and Maury Wills. The lone non-player is Bob Howsam, former General Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds.
Unlike the voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America, which boasts over 550 members, the Golden Era voters number a committee of a mere 16 men, a collection of Hall of Fame players, executives and veteran media members. Where the two voting bodies are similar, however, is that a nominee must achieve 75% of the vote to be inducted into Cooperstown. The members of this year’s committee are Hall of Fame players Jim Bunning, Rod Carew, Ferguson Jenkins, Al Kaline, Joe Morgan, Ozzie Smith and Don Sutton, executives Pat Gillick (also a Hall of Famer), David Glass, Roland Hemond, Jim Frey, and Bob Watson (a very good player also), and veteran media members Phil Pepe, Tracy Ringolsby, Steve Hirdt and Dick Kaegel.
Below I’ll go through each of the ten nominees but first let’s go through the recent history of the Veterans’ Committee voting process. In the long history of the various incarnations of the Veterans’ Committees (now called the “Eras” Committee), there have been many questionable and obviously unqualified Hall of Famers enshrined alongside the Ruths and Aarons, sometimes inducted simply by the power of persuasion of a former teammate who was on the committee. The cronyism and favoritism stopped about 20 years ago and it’s been 14 years since a living player has been elected this way (Bill Mazeroski in the Class of 2001).
The Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors changed the rules for the Veteran’s voting classes of 2003, 2005, 2007. Rather than a small committee that might be swayed by one persuasive member, the entire body of living Hall of Famers (including writers and broadcasters) voted on potential new members. Each of these voting bodies totaled about 80. In 2009, the committed was limited just to Hall of Fame players, which totaled 64. Regardless of the number of voters, four times in a row the living Hall of Famers pitched a shutout. They did not elect one new member. The reason is fairly obvious: the ballots were too big. Each year, a couple of dozen candidates were nominated. Now, it’s important to remember that the Veterans Committee is tasked to induct members who never achieved the 75% of the vote needed to be inducted by the BBWAA. So there aren’t any “no-brainers” on the Veterans’ ballot: no Rickey Hendersons, Cal Ripkens, Tony Gwynns or Ozzie Smiths. So the math doesn’t work: if you have 25 qualified but not obvious candidates, getting 75% of that vote is nearly impossible.
Now there was one exception to the 2009 vote: in addition to the vote of 64 living Hall of Famers who collectively failed to elect any new members, a second committee (a smaller, 12-person group) was created to consider players who debuted before 1943. This group, having fewer candidates to consider, elected Yankees 2nd baseman Joe Gordon into the Hall.
Anyway, the Hall clearly noticed that a small committee worked much more efficiently than a 60-to-80-person committee and (beginning with the Class of 2011) created the modern structure, which are the “Eras” committees, each of which meets once every three years. The “Pre-Integration Committee” votes on players, managers, executives or umpires whose greatest contributions to the game occurred prior to 1947 (when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier). The “Golden Era Committee” (which is voting next week) looks at individuals whose primary contributions were between 1947 and 1972. Finally, the “Expansion Era Committee” looks at those who performed most their Hall-worthy deeds after 1972. This committee is the body that unanimously inducted managers Joe Torre, Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox last year.
The new process is working, sort of. The smaller committees are still much stingier than their profligate predecessors but they are honoring new members. The first Expansion Era Committee didn’t enshrine any players but did honor one of the greatest General Managers in history, Pat Gillick, who joined Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven in the Class of 2011. The 2012 Golden Era Committee finally elected Cubs 3rd baseman Ron Santo, who had long been teased with the Hall of Fame voting process. Unfortunately, Santo died in 2010 and didn’t get to enjoy the moment.
The 2013 Pre-Integration Committee, in a year where the BBWAA declined to elect anybody, saw fit to enshrine three new members. Because of the fallout of the PED era, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza and many other excellent modern players were shut out but the Hall still inducted those three new members (player Deacon White, umpire Hank O’Day, and pioneer Jacob Ruppert), all of whom were dead before the outbreak of World War II.
So, next Monday the next Golden Era class will announce its new members, if any. There is no certainty that any of the ten nominated men will make the cut. It still requires 12 out of 16 votes and getting 75% of people to agree on anything is never a small task. Each of the 16 voters can vote for a maximum of four so the most possible votes are 64, so it’s mathematically impossible for more than five members to be inducted. But that outcome is a million to one shot. More likely, it will be one or two members and possibly none. The maximum number a committee member can vote on is four but they don’t have to vote for anybody.
In Parts 2 through 4, we’ll look at the resumes of the 10 candidates, starting with detailed looks at Dick Allen and Gil Hodges, a briefer look at the other eight.