More Evidence that Something is Wrong with the Hall of Fame

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Posted By: Paul

I recently picked up an example of the official Hall of Fame ballot from 1992, the year Tom Seaver was elected. I immediately noticed something surprising. It looked just like this year's Veterans Committee ballot. With just 36 names on the 1992 ballot, an amazing 14 of these names re-appeared on this past year's Veteran's Committee ballot. (One or two of them may have been on the previous VC ballot, not the most recent one - my memory isn't perfect).

Anyhow, the names I noticed are: Dick Allen, Bobby Bonds, Ken Boyer, Curt Flood, Jim Kaat, Mickey Lolich, Minnie Minoso, Thurman Munson, Tony Oliva, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant, Joe Torre, and Maury Wills.

Did the HOF screening committee think that the Baseball Writers made a mistake when they didn't check an additional 14 boxes on the 1992 ballot? (The ballot says 10 votes is the max). Did the screening committee believe that the 1992 ballot was absurdly over-stocked with well qualified players? It just seems ridiculous that a single HOF ballot could include 14 players that are now on the Veterans Committee ballot. On top of that, two additional players on the 1992 ballot have ALREADY been elected by the previous version of the Veterans Committee (Cepeda and Mazeroski). The various Veterans Committees must really think that the 1992 voters didn't know what they were doing.

I think it's pretty obvious that the screening committee is more interested in selecting players with a fan base than selecting the most deserving players.

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Posted By: Kenny Cole

I think the answer is that when the HOF revamped its voting procedures and reconstituted the veteran's committee, everyone became eligible again, subject to the new winnowing process that they decided to use. At least that is my understanding.

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Posted By: jay behrens

The new process pretty much assures that we will most likely never see a pre-WW2 player, let alone a 19c player elected to the HOF in our lifetime. Aside from SAnto and ,aybe one or two others, there really aren't any deserving players sitting on the outside waiting for the VC to elect them. They would be better off just disbanding it.

Jay

I like to sit outside drink beer and yell at people. If I did this at home I would be arrested, so I go to baseball games and fit right in.