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Posted By: Greg Ecklund

Scott,
Not sure if you are repeating your point because of my post, but just let me clarify. People certainly would have voted differently in the past if it was first ballot only, but the backlog was so large at the time of the 1936 vote that it would have been difficult for the writers to reach a consensus (especially since you could vote for active players at the time - Gehrig, Foxx, Grove, and others were getting votes).

If your rule would have been around then, I would guess guys three or four more guys would have gotten in, but many deserving Hall of Famers would have been left out permanently. Once the writers cleared the backlog of deserving players (probably by the mid 50's) the rule should have been changed to two or three years of eligibility at most.