Building on Quicksand: The Veterans Committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame
When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third one. That one burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. Movie Quotation [Monty Python and the Holy Grail].
June 25, 2022
Once again, the Baseball Hall of Fame has changed the gatekeepers who get to elect its members through the back door. This is the 5th time that the Hall of Fame has changed the locks on its rear entrance in the 21st Century. This contrasts quite sharply with the fixed latch on the Hall of Fame’s front portal. Since the Hall’s inception in 1936, the Baseball Writers Association of America [BBWAA] has guarded the front door. Of course, it is not really all that hard to police the the front door. Since they get first crack at electing Hall of Famers, the Writer’s job is easy. It’s not all that hard to decide whether George (Babe) Ruth or Pedro Martinez is a Hall of Famer. On the other hand, the bouncers in the back have to decide if Freddie Lindstrom or Harold Baines should be able to come inside, a much more difficult job. The back door of the Baseball Hall of Fame has been guarded by various Veteran’s Committees [VC] since 1953. Sadly, some of these Committees left the rear entry unlocked. Some left the back door wide open. One particular Committee threw a decade long soiree that resulted in quite a few party crashers coming in through the back door and taking up permanent residence. So the question is: what exactly is the Baseball Hall of Fame trying to remedy by constantly modifying its Veterans Committee(s)?
A Short History of the Veterans Committee
The original Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee was formed in 1953 to replace the Old Timers Committee for 19th Century Players. The goal of this Committee was to elect those worthy of induction whose 1) careers predated the BBWAA elections, or 2) stardom was overlooked by the BBWAA. Basically, the BBWAA would elect the ‘inner circle’ of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Veteran’s Committee would capture the ‘outer circle’ of Hall of Famers missed by the BBWAA. Unlike the BBWAA, which had hundreds of members voting in their Hall of Fame elections, the Veterans Committee was designed to simply be a small group of experts. In the beginning, the task of the VC was simple. The herd of worthy overlooked Hall of Famers was huge. Lee Allen, Baseball’s Hall of Fame historian, helped the Committee immensely by supplying them with biographical and statistical information. The herd thinned out and Allen died in 1969. In the 1970s, the Veterans Committee was led by a Hall of Fame player and old sportswriter from St. Louis (Frankie Frisch and J. Roy Stockton) and Hall of Fame player and aged sportswriter from New York (Bill Terry and Fred Lieb). Led by these four men, the VC elected undeserving old members of the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants by the busload. Despite being unworthy, Frisch’s and Terry’s old teammates flooded into the Baseball Hall of Fame, never to leave. In some respects, the Baseball Hall of Fame has never recovered from this fiasco.
The Baseball Hall of Fame Hangover from the 1970s
As time glided by, the 1970s Veterans Committee’s choices came under valid criticism. In 2001, the Baseball Hall of Fame completely revamped its Veterans Committee. Basically, the Hall of Fame just got rid of the Committee structure completely. The Hall restructured the VC to be more like the BBWAA electors. Rather than a small group of voters (11 or 12 in the beginning and then 15 at the end), the Hall decided that all living Hall of Fame inductees and any of the writer or broadcaster winners of the Spink or Frick Awards for Excellence now would comprise the electorate. This was a group of just under 100 members, mostly made up of Players already in the Hall of Fame. A Historical Oversight Committee [HOC] narrowed the lists of players, executives and managers that the new Veterans Committee was able to consider. It didn’t work. This brand new Veterans Committee could not agree to elect anyone, year after year. The already elected Hall of Fame Players were reportedly very resistant to electing any of the new ‘outer circle’ members and diluting the honor that had already been bestowed upon them. In 2007, the Hall of Fame revamped the Veterans Committee once again. The Spink and Frick winners were thrown overboard. Only Baseball Players already elected to the Hall of Fame could vote. The lists compiled by the HOC for consideration were cut down even further. In 2008, this overhauled process finally resulted in a some new elections to the Hall of Fame by the Hall of Fame Baseball Players led Veterans Committee.
Back to the Committee Structure [2011]
But it was too little, too late. The directors of the Hall of Fame decided to take the vote away from the actual Hall of Famers. So, in 2011, the Baseball Hall of Fame went back to the original small committee format by creating three 16-man Committees to elect new members from 3 different time periods: 1) the Pre-integration Era before 1947; 2) the Golden Era from 1947-1972; and 3) the Expansion Era from 1973 on. Starting in 2011, the new Veterans Committees would alternate their elections, beginning with the Expansion Era Committee in 2011, followed by the Golden Era Committee in 2012, and finally the Pre-Integration Committee in 2013. The Hall of Fame tipped their hand with this order. They were far more interested in electing players from the recent past rather than days long past. In 2016, the Baseball Hall of Fame revamped these Committees yet again to make it even harder for players from the very distant past to get elected. There were now four new Committees: 1) Early Baseball for Players from before 1950, voting once every ten years; 2) Golden Days of 1950 to 1969, voting every five years; 3) Modern Baseball from 1970 to 1987, voting twice every five years, and 4) Today’s Game from 1988 on, voting twice every five years also. In other words, Players eligible after 1949 would get five elections for every election for players before 1950.
The latest and greatest Veterans Committee [2022]
Despite these constant changes (2001, 2007, 2011 and 2016), the Baseball Hall of Fame was still not satisfied with the structure of their Veterans Committees. On April 22, 2022, they changed it yet again. The Hall of Fame went back to a three Committee structure. The Classic Baseball Era Committee was given the task of selecting anyone worthy who finished their career before 1980. There would also be two Contemporary Era Committees. One of these Committees was for eligible Players, passed over by the BBWAA, who finished their careers after 1980. The other Contemporary Era Committee was for any non-Players (Executives, Managers, and Umpires) who also finished their Baseball careers after 1980. The three new Committees would rotate their selections annually. The Contemporary Player Committee will vote for the 2023 election, followed by the Contemporary Non-Player Committee in 2024, and the Classic Baseball Committee finishing the first cycle in 2025. Unless the Hall again revamps this structure, the three Committees will start a second selection cycle in 1926. Of course, this outlines the new VC process but it does not answer the question: What exactly is the Baseball Hall of Fame trying to remedy by again modifying its Veterans Committee structure? The obvious answer would be that the Hall of Fame is trying to finally lock, or at least bar, the back door to their shrine.
An Inability to Close the Back Door
This is actually not a bad idea at all. The Baseball Hall of Fame has always had three obvious structural problems. First, there are really no clear guidelines on what makes a member electable. The lack of explicit specifications, combined with the personal bias of some of the electors, has led to some very extremely questionable selections. Secondly, there is no limitation on how many Hall of Fame members may be elected. This could easily be accomplished by simply establishing limits. For example, a rule that mandates that exactly three (or up to three) new members can be elected each year to the Baseball Hall of Fame would automatically limit the membership. Third, there is never an end to any eligible member’s candidacy. Ross Barnes, the fair-foul hitting superstar who played from 1871 to 1881, could possibly still be elected. Barnes has currently been dead for over 107 years. No one now living even knew him, much less saw him play. Since the Hall opened, Barnes has had many opportunities to be elected over the years. It would certainly be no crime to finally close the door on his eligibility. With their new Committee structure, the Hall of Fame is taking a shot at this third problem. Basically, the Hall is trying to close the back door on all candidates whose careers ended before 1980. But, as always, the Hall has left the key under the mat and the door ajar. The Classic Baseball Committee, starting in 2025, will get an unlimited shot at picking new Hall of Fame members from the pre-1980 Baseball population.
The Solutions are Mostly Obvious
As usual, the Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2022 changes to the Veterans Committee structure do not permanently solve any of the problems that keep causing the Hall to continuously reconstruct these Committees. Why can’t the Hall simply totally close its back door? Two simple steps would pretty quickly accomplish this goal. The first step would be a moving time frame for eligibility. In other words, the Hall would not use a specific year like 1980 as a cut-off point. The Hall would establish a variable end point for eligibility. For example, the Hall could rule that: “All Candidates for election to the Baseball Hall of fame shall have been active within the last 40 years from the current election.” In other words, the VC would only be considering in 2023 those candidates who were still active in at least 1983. In 2024, eligibility would be reset to 1984 and so forth. By making the end point for Hall of Fame eligibility movable over time, the Hall would not have to reassemble the Committee every time a strict time limit becomes out of date. By combining an advancing eligibility requirement with a strict limit to the actual number of annual inductees, the Baseball Hall of Fame would solve its most basic problem with their Veterans Committees. But it is unlikely that the Hall of Fame will adopt these changes. Throughout its history, the Baseball Hall of Fame has never totally shut either the front or back doors to the hallowed temple of Baseball. Not even to Baseball’s version of the damned: Pete Rose, Joe Jackson, and the rest of the Black Sox.
A Fly in the Ointment
If the Baseball Hall of Fame did finally exclude Players from beyond some set point in time past living memory (for example, anybody active before 1950), the Players from what was then referred to as “Organized Baseball” (i.e. white Baseball) would have very little to complain about. There is no question that this group has been given every opportunity to be elected. That there have been injustices is inarguable. Why Tommy McCarthy should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame while his contemporaries “Bad” Bill Dahlen and Tony “The Count” Mullane (not to mention Jim McCormick, Harry Stovey, Pete Browning, and on and on) languish in the waiting room is inexplicable. But, like the question of whether the Russian Princess Anastasia survived the 1918 Assassination of her entire family, it is all pretty much moot. However, there is an injustice that is more problematic. It is often argued that the Players from the Negro Leagues may have not been given adequate chances to be elected. Essentially, Negro League Players have been given three chances at entering through the back door of the Baseball Hall of Fame. In the 1970s, the Hall elected a symbolic nine man Negro League team to the Hall. From the 1980s to the early 2000s, yet another group of Negro League Players got in through the usual Veterans Committee odd shenanigans. They were elected by their former teammates. In 2006, the Baseball Hall of Fame decided to finish off Negro League Player elections with one last great mass induction. The Hall formed a Committee to evaluate the Negro League candidates and then threw seventeen more Negro Leaguers into the temple all at once.
To Blackball or not to Blackball
It was apparent that the more conservative members of the Baseball Hall of Fame sincerely hoped that this one last great mass 2006 induction would put the Negro Leaguers in the Hall of Fame question to permanent rest. And, to their probable satisfaction, no more Negro Leaguers were elected from 2007 to 2021. However, it did not stop the background accusations of racism and pandering that inevitably followed the cessation of Negro League inductions. Undeterred, the Hall of Fame kept changing the rules for Veteran Committee inductions to make it nearly impossible for any more Negro League Personnel elections. Basically, the Negro Leaguers would get one chance every 10 years. However, two more men from the world of Blackball were elected to the Hall of Fame in 2022. The fact that the next possible induction for a Negro League Player was now 2032 made some noise in the Press. Right after this election, the Baseball Hall of Fame changed the Veterans Committee rules again. Now the Negro Leaguers would get their chance every three years rather than ten. But they would be selected from a much larger pool of candidates. Whether it was their intent or not, the Hall had made it much harder for players from the Negro Leagues to get elected. Of course, the Hall of Fame would surely claim that this is simply coincidental. But, pre-meditated or not, it does not look like an innocent change.
Of course, none of this addresses the really interesting questions of: 1) Are there too many Negro League Players already inducted? How many Players from the Negro Leagues deserve to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame? Who are the most deserving Negro League Players not inducted yet? If more should be elected, how should it be accomplished? But these are all questions for another day.
Coming soon:
- A history of Negro League Players and the Baseball Hall of Fame.
- How many Negro League Players should be in the Hall of Fame?