There is an argument for every name that has been thrown up thus far. However, notwithstanding the revamping of the veteran's committee so that the voters supposedly have more expertise on pre-1947 players then they did in the past, I'm not at all confident that they will ever elect any of the pre-1947 players.
What I suspect they will do this year is elect managers or executives who have been retired for 5 years or who are over 65, i.e., Torre and LaRussa, and call it good. I'm still trying to understand how lumping older living managers and excutives in with pre-1947 ballplayers makes sense, but that's how it is. I think what probably happened is that the HOF wanted to have someone elected from the committee and the powers that be felt that the managers and excutives had a better chance than did actual pre-1947 ballplayers. Sad as it is, that may well be right.
If the committee actually does manage to perform its function (which would be akin to the proverbial blind squirrel finding an acorn), I suspect that the most likely candidate to be elected, as a player, is Dahlen. As best as I can tell, he was highly regarded at the time and statistically, his numbers are pretty compelling.
|