Tuesday, August 07, 2001
Balloting changes make Hall of Fame entry tougher
The Associated Press
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Hall of Famers will have more say in who joins them in Cooperstown, thanks to changes announced Monday that aimed at making it harder to enter baseball's shrine.
The revamped process eliminates the closed-door Veterans Committee meetings, held yearly since 1953, and gives new hope to the estimated 1,700 players who had failed to receive at least 5 percent of the votes cast by writers and were removed from future consideration.
But the changes probably will make it more difficult for Negro League and pre-1900 players, normally selected by the Veterans Committee, to be enshrined and also will make it tougher for players not elected by the baseball writers.
Players not elected by the writers will be considered only once every two years, beginning in 2003, and executives, umpires and managers only once every four years, beginning in 2004. Previously, Hall of Famers could be chosen from both groups every year.
The changes take effect immediately.
But, because the new Veterans Committee doesn't vote for two years, there's a chance that no one will be inducted into the Hall of Fame next year if the writers fail to select any candidates.
“At the Hall of Fame dinner (Sunday) night, one of the great players said, "It's becoming too easy to get into the Hall of Fame,'” said Joe Morgan, a Hall of Famer and vice chairman of the hall's board of directors.
“We also felt there should be an appeals process for players dropped off. This gives them a second look.”
Bill Mazeroski's name was not mentioned Monday by Morgan or other hall officials, but some Hall of Famers — including Ted Williams — were unhappy the fielding whiz was elected this year by the Veterans Committee headed by Joe L. Brown, the Pittsburgh general manager throughout Mazeroski's 17-year Pirates career. Mazeroski, a career .260 hitter, never received a high percentage of votes during his 15 years on the writers ballot and did not begin receiving substantial Veterans Committee consideration until Brown, who will not be on the revamped 90-member committee, became chairman.
Future voting — not just by the writers, but by the Veterans Committee — will be made public. Previously, a 15-member Veterans Committee voted in secret.
The changes do not affect the annual voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. But they do include:
• The 15-member Veterans Committee (five former players, five media members and five former executives) will be replaced by a 90-member group made up of the living members of the Hall of Fame (61), the recipients of the J.G. Taylor Spink award for writers (13), the Ford C. Frick award for broadcasters (13) and current Veterans Committee members (3) whose terms have not expired.
• Sixty baseball writers will identify 25 candidates for the players' ballot and 15 for the composite ballot (managers, umpires, executives). The Hall of Fame board of directors also will appoint a screening committee to identify five candidates for the players' ballot.
• All candidates receiving 75 percent of the vote will be elected, just as in the writers voting.
• The special ballots for 19th century players and Negro League players were dropped. The 19th century players will be on the players ballot drawn up every two years. After a Hall of Fame-sponsored study of black baseball from 1860-1960 is completed, the board of directors will determine how Negro League players will be considered.
New Hall of Fame Veterans Committee
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Balloting changes make Hall of Fame entry tougher