HoF changes voting for veterans

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is the “Pre-integration” ballot, since there is almost nobody from that period outside of Cooperstown that deserves to go in. Maybe some 19th century ballplayers, but there’s no way that the current Vets panel votes for any 19thC. players.

Tip O’Neill would probably be the top candidate. (No, not the old Speaker of the House. The guy he was named after.) Parisian Bob Caruthers. Tony Mullane. No way these guys are getting in, even if they probably are good enough.

More likely would be someone from that era who hung around the game for a while as a manager or announcer, but who really wasn’t that good as a player. Someone like Mel Harder or Jimmy Dykes. That, or Bob Meusel since he’s remembered as the outfielder on the ‘27 Yankees who isn’t in the HOF.

He probably would have won the 1966 Cy Young Award in the AL if they had had separate awards at the time (there was only one until 1967). He was a key contributor to the Twins pennant winning team in 1965.

After the Twins thought he was done, he put up a 21-win season for the White Sox and was an effective reliever for many years after that, contributing again to the Cardinals WS team in 1982 — at age 43. If not for injuries he’d probably have won 300 games and have been in a long time ago.

Also, he was the best fielding pitcher of his generation, winning 16 Gold Gloves.

I’d vote for him.

sort of like Don Sutton.

He was never a great pitcher, but he was a good pitcher for a long time, but does that make you a HOFer?

Still on the BBWAA ballot?

Now they might finally be able to get around to it because the players failed to elect anyone. This is what you get when you set a standard that’s too strict.

Al Oliver is a great example of a very good player that doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame. He has the most hits of any hitter with over a .300 career batting average, who is not in the Hall of Fame. He hit .303 with 2743 hits. Oliver’s got a much stronger claim than Garr. I know you were joking about Garr. Even so, there were simply too many other better hitters than Oliver during his era to put Oliver in the Hall.

I have never understood the sanctimony with which the National Baseball Hall of Fame AND MUSEUM elections are held.

Why not elect more people? What does it hurt? Does electing Ralph Garr somehow take away from Henry Aaron’s achievements? It seems to me that the more people you elect (from more teams), the more interesting the place is to visit.

I’m sure that some exhibits in the Smithsonian are more interesting and popular than others, but ultimately there is something for everyone.

I think Minoso is a bigger oversight than Hodges. I don’t support Gil’s candidacy, but he wouldn’t be the worst selection. They need to get Santo and Minoso in with the “Golden Era.”

But I figure by “Expansion Era”, they mean played the majority of their career after the leagues began their expansions (AL in ‘60, NL in ’61). Someone like Gil Hodges played from ’43 to ’63, while Santo’s career of 1960-74 would fairly be considered ‘expansion era’, IMO.

(Unless you’ve seen somewhere that it’s not the case, I’m just thinking out loud here.)

x x x x x x x x x x

It also seems that if you account for the “retired 21 seasons” provision, if the third category was for players who debuted in 1973 and later, there would hardly be anyone eligible in that group yet.

(debut in 1973, play 15 years – retire in 1987.. plus having to be retired 21 seasons.. that’s 2008)

Okay, I get that Santo is long overdue for induction. However, I don’t think his family should boycott the ceremony should (God forbid!) Santo gets elected posthumously. I would be all for their expressing their displeasure about the delay, but boycotting the ceremony would not be appropriate.

If it wasn’t good enough while he was alive, just keep it.

And may God have mercy on your souls.