Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 2009

The elections to select the 2009 class of inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame will proceed according to revised rules enacted in 2001 and further revamped in 2007. The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) will hold an election to select from among recent players. In keeping with the 2007 rules changes, the Veterans Committee will hold an election for players who were active in the years 1943 to 1987, but not before or after that period. An election to select from among players who were active prior to 1943 will be conducted by a committee of 12 Hall of Famers, writers, and baseball historians, to be chosen by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors. An election to select managers, umpires and executives was held for the 2008 inductions; the next such election will be held prior to the 2010 inductions.

The induction ceremonies will be held on July 26 2009 in Cooperstown, with Commissioner Bud Selig presiding.

BBWAA election

The BBWAA will again be authorized to elect players active in 1989 or later, but not after 2003; the ballot, expected to be announced in November 2008, will include candidates from the 2008 ballot who received at least 5% of the vote but were not elected, along with selected players, chosen by a screening committee, whose last appearance was in 2003. All 10-year members of the BBWAA will be eligible to vote.

Voters will be instructed to cast votes for up to 10 candidates; any candidate who receives votes on at least 75% of the ballots will be honored with induction to the Hall. Results of the 2009 election by the BBWAA will be announced in January. Those candidates who receive less than 5% of the vote will not appear on future BBWAA ballots, but may eventually be considered by the Veterans Committee.

There will be 13 candidates returning from the 2008 ballot (a record low) ; Tommy John and Jim Rice will be on the ballot for the 15th and final time:

*Harold Baines
*Bert Blyleven
*Andre Dawson
*Tommy John
*Don Mattingly
*Mark McGwire
*Jack Morris
*Dale Murphy
*Dave Parker
*Tim Raines
*Jim Rice
*Lee Smith
*Alan Trammell

The newly-eligible candidates will include 22 All-Stars, who were selected a combined total of 58 times – a slight increase from 2008, when 17 All-Stars who had been selected a total of 43 times became eligible. Rickey Henderson, a 10-time All-Star, will be the only new candidate who was selected more than five times.

In addition to Henderson, players eligible for the first time are: Steve Avery, Jay Bell, Jason Bere, Mike Bordick, John Burkett, David Cone, Omar Daal, Ron Gant, Joe Girardi, Mark Grace, Mark Guthrie, Joey Hamilton, Bill Haselman, Darren Holmes, Trenidad Hubbard, Todd Hundley, Brian L. Hunter, Félix José, Chad Kreuter, Graeme Lloyd, Keith Lockhart, Albie Lopez, Pat Mahomes, Al Martin, Orlando Merced, Charles Nagy, Denny Neagle, Troy O'Leary, Jesse Orosco, Lance Painter, Dean Palmer, Craig Paquette, Dan Plesac, Tom Prince, Jeff Reboulet, Rick Reed, Rich Rodriguez, Terry Shumpert, Luis Sojo, Greg Vaughn, Mo Vaughn, Dave Veres, Matt Walbeck, Matt Williams, Mike Williams and Kevin Young.

Veterans Committee

1943 and later

Rules for election by the Veterans Committee were revised in July 2007 following complaints that the three elections conducted under the previous format (in 2003, 2005 and 2007) had resulted in no selections. After the February 2007 election, Bud Selig expressed frustration over the ongoing difficulties, and voiced his support for a revision of the process. [cite news |title=Selig: Time to review vet voting |work=Chicago Tribune |date=2007-04-27] Under the revised format, a Historical Overview Committee composed of 11 sportswriters appointed by the BBWAA's Board of Directors met in spring 2008 to develop a ballot of 20 former players active between 1943 and 1987; the committee members were: Dave Van Dyck ("Chicago Tribune"); Bob Elliott ("Toronto Sun"); Rick Hummel ("St. Louis Post-Dispatch"); Steve Hirdt (Elias Sports Bureau); Moss Klein (formerly Newark "Star-Ledger"); Bill Madden (New York "Daily News"); Ken Nigro (formerly "Baltimore Sun"); Jack O'Connell (MLB.com); Nick Peters ("The Sacramento Bee"); Tracy Ringolsby ("Rocky Mountain News"); and Mark Whicker ("The Orange County Register"). A six-member panel of Hall of Famers also met to independently select five players for consideration; these lists were merged to create a preliminary ballot of 21 names: Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Bert Campaneris, Rocky Colavito, Mike Cuellar, Steve Garvey, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Ted Kluszewski, Mickey Lolich, Roger Maris, Lee May, Minnie Miñoso, Thurman Munson, Tony Oliva, Al Oliver, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant, Joe Torre and Maury Wills.

Following the elections of 2003 through 2007, when the voting membership of the Veterans Committee included not only the living members of the Hall but also recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award and J. G. Taylor Spink Award, voting will now be limited to Hall members; they met at the Hall during induction weekend in 2008, and reduced the ballot to 10 names through voting in August. This final ballot will then be sent to the 64 living members, and they will vote by mail, casting votes for up to four candidates each. Any candidate receiving votes on 75% of ballots will be inducted to the Hall; a maximum of five inductees is possible. Results will be announced on December 8. The final ballot was announced on September 16; all ten finalists were returnees from the 2007 final ballot:

*Dick Allen
*Gil Hodges
*Jim Kaat
*Tony Oliva
*Al Oliver
*Vada Pinson
*Ron Santo
*Luis Tiant
*Joe Torre
*Maury Wills

The ballot is composed almost entirely of players who were active in the 1960s and 1970s, with all but Hodges being active during the period from 1967 to 1972; even among the 21 players initially considered, only six had their rookie seasons before 1958, and only Hodges, Ted Kluszewski and Minnie Miñoso debuted before 1955. Other players who were on the 2007 ballot who were eligible for consideration were Bobby Bonds, Curt Flood, Sparky Lyle and Don Newcombe. In addition to Ken Boyer, Rocky Colavito, Kluszewski, Roger Maris, Miñoso and Newcombe, other potential candidates whose rookie seasons were before 1958 were Billy Pierce, perhaps the American League's top pitcher in the mid-1950s, Roy Face, the National League's first great reliever, and Dick Groat, a solid-hitting shortstop who was the NL's MVP in 1960.

Among the players who were eligible for the first time were Dusty Baker, Vida Blue, Ron Cey, Cecil Cooper, George Foster, Steve Garvey, Bobby Grich, Dave Kingman, Davey Lopes and Bill Madlock, with only Garvey being included among the 21 semifinalists.

In addition to improving on the fruitless outcome of the previous three elections for players, there could be particular urgency in the 2009 vote resulting in the selection of one or more new members, as in 2011 a large group of potentially popular candidates will become eligible – possibly further diluting the support for any single candidate. Those becoming eligible in 2011 will include Buddy Bell, Dave Concepción, Ron Guidry, Tommy John, Graig Nettles, Ted Simmons, and potentially Jim Rice (if he is not selected in the 2009 BBWAA vote); another sizable group of potentially popular candidates, including Dwight Evans, Keith Hernandez, Fred Lynn, Dave Parker and Dan Quisenberry, will become eligible in 2013.

Pre-1943

For the first time, a separate election will be held for players whose major league careers began before 1943; these elections are scheduled to occur every five years. The election will be conducted at the December 2008 winter meetings, among a committee of twelve Hall members and members of the media, with results to be announced December 8; votes by proxy will be allowed only in emergencies. The committee members will be Hall members Bobby Doerr, Ralph Kiner, Phil Niekro, Robin Roberts, Duke Snider, Don Sutton and Dick Williams, sportswriters Furman Bisher, Steve Hirdt and Bill Madden, longtime baseball executive Roland Hemond, and ESPN news editor Claire Smith. The Historical Overview Committee of the BBWAA selected 10 candidates to appear on the ballot, with votes from 75% of the committee necessary for election; each committee member can vote for up to four candidates, allowing for a maximum of five selections. The final ballot was announced on August 25:

*Bill Dahlen
*Wes Ferrell
*Joe Gordon
*Sherry Magee
*Carl Mays
*Allie Reynolds
*Vern Stephens
*Mickey Vernon
*Bucky Walters
*Deacon White

Of the ten final candidates, none are living; Vernon was alive at the time the final ballot was announced, but died a month later. The finalists include candidates spanning the entire period from 1868 (White) to 1960 (Vernon), although six of the ten were active in the 1940s.

This committee was also allowed to elect candidates who played in the Negro leagues prior to 1946, as long as their time in the Negro leagues and major leagues totals at least ten seasons; this rule would seem to include players such as Minnie Miñoso (who debuted with the New York Cubans in 1945) and Don Newcombe (who debuted with the Newark Eagles in 1944), even if they did not appear in the Negro leagues until after 1943. Negro league first baseman Buck O'Neil, whose playing career began in 1937, was eligible to be included on this ballot; however, if the overview committee believed that his contributions to baseball after his playing career ended outweigh his playing accomplishments, he could be instead considered in the election for non-players in 2010. The rules state that "Those whose careers entailed involvement as both players and managers/executives/umpires will be considered for their overall contribution to the game of Baseball; however, the specific category in which such individuals shall be considered will be determined by the role in which they were most prominent. In those instances when a candidate is prominent as both a player and as a manager, executive or umpire, the BBWAA Screening Committee shall determine that individual's candidacy as either a player (Players Ballot), or as a manager, umpires, executive or pioneer (Managers/Umpires Ballot, or Executives/Pioneers Ballot)."

J. G. Taylor Spink Award

The J. G. Taylor Spink Award, presented by the BBWAA annually at the induction ceremonies since 1962, is given to a sportswriter "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing". The recipient is not considered to be a member of the Hall, but is permanently recognized in an exhibit at the museum. After the 2007 changes to the Veterans Committee, the winner (if living) is no longer an automatic member of that body.

Three final candidates, selected by a BBWAA committee, were named on July 18 2008 in New York City in conjunction with All-Star Game activities: Nick Peters of "The Sacramento Bee", Dave Van Dyck of the "Chicago Tribune", and Bob Elliott of the "Toronto Sun". [cite news |first=Bill |last=Lankhof |title=Bob hits home run |url=http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2008/07/20/6209631-sun.html |work=Toronto Sun |date=2008-07-20 |accessdate=2008-07-30 ] All 10-year members of the BBWAA will be eligible to cast ballots in voting conducted by mail in November, with the winner to be announced in December at baseball's winter meetings.

References

External links

* [http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/vetcom.jsp Veterans Committee Rules for Election]