Journey to Cooperstown

Hall of Fame ballots are due January 15 with the induction ceremony July 31, so the first edition of DITr for 2005 will be dedicated to the Hall of Fame. There are three parts to this edition. First, I’ll give a brief history of the HOF. The second part is an overview of the election process and the third part lists the candidates who would be on my ballot if I had a vote.

History of the HOF

The HOF currently has 258 members, consisting of 211 player inductees, 16 manager inductees, eight umpires and 23 inductees under the category of pioneers/executives. The first class of inductees was in 1936 and included Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner. Some inductees that are worth mentioning for me personally are Eddie Murray (2003), Earl Weaver (1996), Rod Carew (1991), Joe Morgan (1990), Jim Palmer (1990), Johnny Bench (1989) and Lou Brock (1985). Other inductees worth noting are George Brett (1999), Nolan Ryan (1999), Steve Carlton (1994), Reggie Jackson (1993), Brooks Robinson (1983), Hank Aaron (1982), Willie Mays (1979), Jackie Robinson (1962), Candy Cummings (1939), and Cy Young (1937).

Process and Rules for Election

Qualifying members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) hold an annual election to determine members of the HOF under authorization by the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. In order to be eligible candidates must meet the following requirements:

1. A player must have been active at some time during a period beginning twenty years before and ending five years prior to election. (Players not meeting this requirement may be elected by the Veterans Committee, which I will not get into here.)
2. A player must have played in each of ten seasons, some part of which must have been within the period describe in #1.
3. A player must have ceased to be an active player at least five years prior to the election.
4. In case of the death of an active player or a player who has been retired less than five years, a candidate who is otherwise eligible shall be eligible in the next regular election held at least six months after the death. (This has occurred on four occasions: Lou Gehrig in 1939, Roberto Clemente in 1973, Thurman Munson in 1979 and Darryl Kile in 2003. Gehrig and Clemente were elected.)
5. A player on Baseball’s ineligible list cannot be an eligible candidate. (The most notable player falling under this requirement would be Pete Rose.)

A six-member Screening Committee, each elected by the BBWAA determines nominees. Eligible candidate who 1) received a vote on a minimum of five percent of the ballots in the preceding election or 2) are eligible for the first time and are nominated by at least two members of the Screening Committee will be included on the ballot. Electors may vote for no more than ten candidates. Candidates receiving votes on seventy-five percent of the ballots will be elected as a member of the Hall of Fame.

2005 Ballot and My Selections

The 2005 ballot consists of 27 players, 12 of which are on the ballot for the first time. For a complete 2005 ballot, visit www.baseballhalloffame.org. First-ballot inductees are not very common. In the last 15 years there have only been 16 first-ballot inductees. In my opinion, Wade Boggs is the only first-ballot nominee who should be elected this year.
Here is my ballot if I were a member of the BBWAA:

Wade Boggs- 1st year on ballot. Boggs hit .328 for his career, which ranks him 26th all time, and had 15 seasons hitting at least .300. He was a five-time AL batting champion and is one of 25 players to reach the 3,000-hit mark. All other qualified players with 3,000 or more hits are in the HOF. Boggs won two AL Gold Gloves and finished in AL MVP voting four times.

Lee Smith- 3rd year on ballot. Smith is the all-time leader in saves, with 478. He had 13 consecutive seasons with 20-plus saves and 10 seasons with at least 30 saves and one season with 40-plus saves.

Goose Gossage- 6th year on ballot. Gossage ranks 15th all-time in saves and led the AL in saves three times. Often considered the first of the modern-day closers. Helped revolutionize the late-inning reliever. In his era, however, saves were not typically just one inning, often two or three innings.

Bruce Sutter- 12th year on ballot. Along with Gossage, revolutionized the closer role. Ranks 18th all-time in saves and won the Cy Young award in 1979. Is credited with also revolutionizing the split-finger fastball.

Alan Trammell- 4th year on ballot. Along with Cal Ripken Jr., Trammell revolutionized the shortstop position. Overlooked by some due to Ripken’s offensive statistics, still produced more offense than recent shortstops. He had seven seasons with a batting average of .300 or better and won four AL Gold Gloves.

Ryne Sandberg- 3rd year on ballot. What Trammell and Ripken did for the shortstop position, Sandberg did for second base. Until 2004, when Jeff Kent passed him, Sandberg held the career record for homeruns by a second baseman. He won the NL MVP in 1984, ranks 1st all-time for highest fielding percentage for second basemen and holds the MLB record for consecutive errorless games by a second baseman at 123. He won nine consecutive NL Gold Gloves and led NL second basemen in fielding percentage four times.

To see the results of one writer’s ballot, read Tracy Ringolsby’s December 24 column at http://www.rockymountainnews.com/

I certainly learned a great deal about the HOF doing research for this column, I hope you did too and enjoyed the column.