{"id":24,"date":"2014-12-06T17:42:36","date_gmt":"2014-12-07T01:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?p=24"},"modified":"2014-12-14T12:15:53","modified_gmt":"2014-12-14T20:15:53","slug":"2015-golden-era-part-1-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?p=24","title":{"rendered":"2015 Golden Era Hall of Fame Ballot Part 1: Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the day after the conclusion of the thrilling 7th<\/sup> 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.\u00a0 The ten candidates are part of the \u201cGolden Era\u201d ballot (a modern version of yesteryear\u2019s Veterans\u2019 Committee), which considers players, managers or executives whose primary impact on the game occurred between 1947-1972.<\/p>\n

The ten nominated men are Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Billy Pierce, Luis Tiant and Maury Wills.\u00a0\u00a0 The lone non-player is Bob Howsam, former General Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0\u00a0 Where the two voting bodies are similar, however, is that a nominee must achieve 75% of the vote to be inducted into Cooperstown.\u00a0 The members of this year\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Below I\u2019ll go through each of the ten nominees but first let\u2019s go through the recent history of the Veterans\u2019 Committee voting process.\u00a0\u00a0 In the long history of the various incarnations of the Veterans\u2019 Committees (now called the \u201cEras\u201d 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.\u00a0 The cronyism and favoritism stopped about 20 years ago and it\u2019s been 14 years since a living player has been elected this way (Bill Mazeroski in the Class of 2001).<\/p>\n

The Hall of Fame\u2019s Board of Directors changed the rules for the Veteran\u2019s voting classes of 2003, 2005, 2007.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 \u00a0Each of these voting bodies totaled about 80.\u00a0 In 2009, the committed was limited just to Hall of Fame players, which totaled 64.\u00a0\u00a0 Regardless of the number of voters, four times in a row the living Hall of Famers pitched a shutout.\u00a0 They did not elect one new member.\u00a0\u00a0 The reason is fairly obvious: the ballots were too big.\u00a0 Each year, a couple of dozen candidates were nominated.\u00a0 Now, it\u2019s 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.\u00a0 So there aren\u2019t any \u201cno-brainers\u201d on the Veterans\u2019 ballot: no Rickey Hendersons, Cal Ripkens, Tony Gwynns or Ozzie Smiths.\u00a0\u00a0 So the math doesn\u2019t work: if you have 25 qualified but not obvious candidates, getting 75% of that vote is nearly impossible.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0\u00a0 This group, having fewer candidates to consider, elected Yankees 2nd<\/sup> baseman Joe Gordon into the Hall.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cEras\u201d committees, each of which meets once every three years.\u00a0\u00a0 The \u201cPre-Integration Committee\u201d votes on players, managers, executives or umpires whose greatest contributions to the game occurred prior to 1947 (when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier).\u00a0 The \u201cGolden Era Committee\u201d (which is voting next week) looks at individuals whose primary contributions were between 1947 and 1972.\u00a0 Finally, the \u201cExpansion Era Committee\u201d looks at those who performed most their Hall-worthy deeds after 1972.\u00a0\u00a0 This committee is the body that unanimously inducted managers Joe Torre, Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox last year.<\/p>\n

The new process is working, sort of.\u00a0 The smaller committees are still much stingier than their profligate predecessors but they are honoring new members.\u00a0 The first Expansion Era Committee didn\u2019t 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.\u00a0 The 2012 Golden Era Committee finally elected Cubs 3rd<\/sup> baseman Ron Santo, who had long been teased with the Hall of Fame voting process.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Santo died in 2010 and didn\u2019t get to enjoy the moment.<\/p>\n

The 2013 Pre-Integration Committee, in a year where the BBWAA declined to elect anybody, saw fit to enshrine three new members.\u00a0\u00a0 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\u2019Day, and pioneer Jacob Ruppert), all of whom were dead before the outbreak of World War II.<\/p>\n

So, next Monday the next Golden Era class will announce its new members, if any.\u00a0\u00a0 There is no certainty that any of the ten nominated men will make the cut.\u00a0 It still requires 12 out of 16 votes and getting 75% of people to agree on anything is never a small task.\u00a0 Each of the 16 voters can vote for a maximum of four so the most possible votes are 64, so it\u2019s mathematically impossible for more than five members to be inducted.\u00a0\u00a0 But that outcome is a million to one shot.\u00a0 More likely, it will be one or two members and possibly none.\u00a0 The maximum number a committee member can vote on is four but\u00a0they don\u2019t have to vote for anybody.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball-hall-of-fame"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5rqzv-o","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":60,"url":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?p=60","url_meta":{"origin":24,"position":0},"title":"2015 Golden Era Hall of Fame Ballot Part 4: The Rest of the Ten","author":"chrisbodig@gmail.com","date":"December 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In Part 4 of this series on the Golden Era ballot for the Hall of Fame, we'll comment on the credentials of Luis Tiant, Minnie Minoso, Ken Boyer, Tony Oliva, Billy Pierce, Maury Wills and Bob Howsam. \u00a0Enjoy! HALL OF FAME CASES FOR TIANT, MINOSO, KAAT, BOYER, OLIVA, PIERCE, WILLS,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hall of Fame"","block_context":{"text":"Hall of Fame","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":178,"url":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?p=178","url_meta":{"origin":24,"position":1},"title":"The Over-Crowded 2015 Hall of Fame Ballot","author":"chrisbodig@gmail.com","date":"December 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"For a baseball fan, one of the great treats at the start of the New Year is the announcement of the newest class of Hall of Fame players as voted by the Baseball Writers Association of America.\u00a0 The anticipation felt by fans throughout the country is surpassed only by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Baseball"","block_context":{"text":"Baseball","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56,"url":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?p=56","url_meta":{"origin":24,"position":2},"title":"2015 Golden Era Hall of Fame Ballot Part 3: Gil Hodges","author":"chrisbodig@gmail.com","date":"December 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In Part 3 of this 4-part series about the Hall of Fame Golden Era ballot, we take a close look at the case for and against Gil Hodges, one of the most respected man in the game whose accomplishments over 50 years ago are overshadowed by the gaudy offensive numbers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hall of Fame"","block_context":{"text":"Hall of Fame","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31,"url":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?p=31","url_meta":{"origin":24,"position":3},"title":"2015 Golden Era Hall of Fame Ballot Part 2: Dick Allen","author":"chrisbodig@gmail.com","date":"December 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In Part 2 of this 4-part series about the Hall of Fame Golden Era ballot, we take a detailed look at the case for and against Dick Allen, no doubt a Hall of Fame talent but one whose controversial career makes him a fascinating study. THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hall of Fame"","block_context":{"text":"Hall of Fame","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67,"url":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?p=67","url_meta":{"origin":24,"position":4},"title":"2015 Golden Era Hall of Fame Ballot Results: “No Room at the Inn”","author":"chrisbodig@gmail.com","date":"December 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today at 11:00a in San Diego at baseball\u2019s Winter Meetings, Hall of Fame chairman Jane Forbes Clark took the podium in the first significant scheduled news event of the week to announce the new inductee(s) to baseball\u2019s Hall of Fame from the \u201cGolden Era Committee.\u201d\u00a0 Ten candidates, whose primary contributions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hall of Fame"","block_context":{"text":"Hall of Fame","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":295,"url":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?p=295","url_meta":{"origin":24,"position":5},"title":"The Hall of Fame Class of 2015","author":"chrisbodig@gmail.com","date":"January 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier today, for the first time since exactly 60 years ago when Joe DiMaggio and 3 others were chosen, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) elected four new members to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.\u00a0 Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio will be enshrined into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Baseball"","block_context":{"text":"Baseball","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chrisbodig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/WEBSITE-HALL-OF-FAME-MUSEUM.jpg?fit=550%2C413&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chrisbodig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/WEBSITE-HALL-OF-FAME-MUSEUM.jpg?fit=550%2C413&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chrisbodig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/WEBSITE-HALL-OF-FAME-MUSEUM.jpg?fit=550%2C413&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions\/64"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chrisbodig.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}