2024 Classic HOF election

[theshleps]

Does anyone think any managers, execs and negro league have a chance??

[Casey2296]

I'd like to see Lefty O'Doul get in for his work he did promoting baseball in Japan. If Buck O'Neal is in Lefty should be too.

I'd also like to see Joe Jackson get in considering the wholesale embracing of Manfred and the gamblers, but they would have to admit their blatant hypocrisy which won't happen.

[jingram058]

I would like to see Cecil Travis, Riggs Stephenson, Stan Hack, Maury Wills, Thurman Munson, and Don Mattingly get in, but it's never going to happen for any of them, I suppose. I did live long enough to see Gil Hodges get in, so one can cling to hope.

[Svabinsky78]

I hope that Bill Dahlen finally gets a nod (probably won't). I would like to see Tommy John get in as well.

From the really old player pool, you have guys like Jimmy "Pony" Ryan, McCormick, Tony Mullane, Pete Browning, Cy Williams, and Stuffy McInnis.

From the 60s guys, I would put in Al Oliver, Vada Pinson, Harvey Kuenn.

I second Lefty O'Doul.

I second Mattingly, one of my all time favorite players, but he is contemporary era committee guy. For the contemporary era, I would also throw in Dwight Evans, Keith Hernandez, Dave Parker, Omar Vizquel, Schilling, Murphy, Whitaker.

I do think that Dick Allen will get the nod.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I thought Allen just got rejected, how can he be up again?

[Svabinsky78]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I thought Allen just got rejected, how can he be up again?

He cannot be a candidate on the Dec 2024 ballot for Classic Era Committee that votes on pre 1980 players? I know that with the last ballot he fell short. I am not familiar with the voting process. I am not sure if he would have to sit out a round because he got rejected the last time.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by jingram058

I would like to see Cecil Travis, Riggs Stephenson, Stan Hack, Maury Wills, Thurman Munson, and Don Mattingly get in, but it's never going to happen for any of them, I suppose. I did live long enough to see Gil Hodges get in, so one can cling to hope.

I want to edit my list above, and add Dick Allen.

Read about him in his Wikipedia page to see how misrepresented and unfairly written about he was:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Allen

Detractors of Allen's Hall of Fame credentials argue that his career was not as long as most Hall of Famers, and therefore lacked the career cumulative numbers that others do. They further argue that the controversies surrounding him negatively impacted his teams.[40]

Hall of Fame player Willie Stargell countered with a historical perspective of Dick Allen's time: "Dick Allen played the game in the most conservative era in baseball history. It was a time of change and protest in the country, and baseball reacted against all that. They saw it as a threat to the game. The sportswriters were reactionary too. They didn't like seeing a man of such extraordinary skills doing it his way. It made them nervous. Dick Allen was ahead of his time. His views and way of doing things would go unnoticed today. If I had been manager of the Phillies back when he was playing, I would have found a way to make Dick Allen comfortable. I would have told him to blow off the writers. It was my observation that when Dick Allen was comfortable, balls left the park."[41]

The two managers for whom Allen played the longest – Gene Mauch of the Phillies, and Chuck Tanner of the White Sox – agreed with Willie Stargell that Allen was not a "clubhouse lawyer" who harmed team chemistry. Asked if Allen's behavior ever had a negative influence on the team, Mauch said, "Never. Dick's teammates always liked him. I'd take him in a minute."[34] According to Tanner, "Dick was the leader of our team, the captain, the manager on the field. He took care of the young kids, took them under his wing. And he played every game as if it was his last day on earth."[42]

Hall of Fame player Orlando Cepeda agreed, saying to author Tim Whitaker, "Dick Allen played with fire in his eyes."[43]

Hall of Fame teammate Goose Gossage also confirmed Tanner's view. In an interview with USA TODAY Sports, Gossage said: "I've been around the game a long time, and he's the greatest player I've ever seen play in my life. He had the most amazing season (1972) I've ever seen. He's the smartest baseball man I've ever been around in my life. He taught me how to pitch from a hitter's perspective, and taught me how to play the game right. There's no telling the numbers this guy could have put up if all he worried about was stats. The guy belongs in the Hall of Fame."[44]

Another of Allen's ex-White Sox teammates, pitcher Stan Bahnsen, said, "I actually thought that Dick was better than his stats. Every time we needed a clutch hit, he got it. He got along great with his teammates and he was very knowledgeable about the game. He was the ultimate team guy."[45]

Another Hall of Fame teammate, Mike Schmidt, credited Dick Allen in his book, Clearing the Bases, as his mentor.[46] In Schmidt's biography, written by historian William C. Kashatus, Schmidt fondly recalls Allen mentoring him before a game in Chicago in 1976, saying to him, "Mike, you've got to relax. You've got to have some fun. Remember when you were just a kid and you'd skip supper to play ball? You were having fun. Hey, with all the talent you've got, baseball ought to be fun. Enjoy it. Be a kid again." Schmidt responded by hitting four home runs in the game. Schmidt is quoted in the same book, "The baseball writers used to claim that Dick would divide the clubhouse along racial lines. That was a lie. The truth is that Dick never divided any clubhouse."

[SmokyBurgess]

Curt Flood.

[Kutcher55]

Originally Posted by SmokyBurgess

Curt Flood.

Yes! And Luis Tiant.