Don't change Veterans Committee standards
The Veterans Committee announced Tuesday that, for the third straight election, it has not added anyone to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Does the decision not to add anyone (notice I did not say failure) mean the process needs to be changed? Already, there is some discussion that it might.
I don't think so. It is the job of the writers who vote initially to try and determine who belongs in the Hall and who doesn't. A player is eligible for 15 years provided he gets enough votes to stay on the ballot.
After that, the Veterans Committee is charged with looking at those who did not make it and correcting any oversights. It is not the Veterans Committee's responsibility to make sure someone gets added every time it convenes.
This is what Hall of Famer Joe Morgan, a member of the Veterans Committee, had to say about the process.
"I personally believe we're going to do the right thing. The integrity of the Hall of Fame has to be first and foremost in everybody's mind. The writers voted on these people for 15 years, and they weren't elected."I agree with Morgan.
The Hall of Fame needs to be reserved for the most elite, most dominant players in the sport. The baseball writers aren't perfect, but in most cases if a player has not been deemed worthy after 15 years that is a pretty good indication he doesn't belong in the Hall.
The Veterans Committee is responsible for making sure any egregious oversights are corrected, not with making sure good players like Ron Santo and Jim Kaat get into the Hall because they are really nice guys and lots of people like them.
To me, the process is working just fine. Leave it alone.
technorati tags: Baseball, Hall of Fame, Ron Santo, Jim Kaat
4 comments:
Ron Santo is not just a 'good' player. He's a great player that was stuck in the WORST offensive era in recent history, yet still put up outstanding numbers, especially for a third baseman.
Morgan's a total idiot, because he also played in that era, and HIS triple crown numbers suffered because of it AND the fact he played in the Astrodome.
There are a lot of people I'd love to crowbar out of the Hall of Fame, but Santo defintiely belongs.
I agree with your premise, but I don't agree on Santo. He's a more egregious oversight than Orlando Cepeda or Bill Mazerfuckinoski was. And that Morgan quote exudes territorialism and elitism from every pore.
If you're arguing that the Hall of Fame should only be for "elite" players, that train left the station a long time ago. And Santo is one of those "elite" players anyway. Read some Bill James stuff someday.
The discussion on Santo, notwithstanding, the Veteran's committee has outlived its usefulness! They need to close the backdoor into the HOF right away. They should only be voting for the non-players. Leave the players to the writers. If you can't get in over a 15 year period of voting by contemporary writers, you don't deserve to get in.
And in all fairness, Marvin Miller has had such a dramatic impact on baseball. How he is not in the HOF is unconscionable.
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