The New York Daily News
Veterans shaft umps, execs and managers
TAMPA - Another shutout by the Veterans Committee. Another exercise in futility in which two candidates, Ron Santo and Jim Kaat, at least made some nominal progress in achieving far higher percentages than they ever did on the Baseball Writers ballot but not enough to give them hope of being elected to the Hall of Fame anytime soon.
Still, this wasn't the egregious fault in yesterday's latest non-election. The fact that no one came close among the managers/executives/umpires in the second "composite" ballot is a clear indication that the 82-member committee, the vast majority of which consists of Hall of Famers, simply aren't equipped to evaluate managers or the non-uniformed people whose impact on the game was of historical nature.
Hall of Fame chairman Jane Forbes Clark, while revealing the shutout, at least upheld the high standards for the Hall established by the Baseball Writers Association, admitting to being "disappointed that no one was elected."
To that, I would tell her, as well as the Hall's Board of Directors that meet March 17 to re-evaluate the process, to give the composite ballot to the Baseball Writers who are far more qualified to evaluate the executives and managers. I guarantee they'll elect someone.
As a voting member in the Baseball Writers Association's regular election, I don't have any problem with the new Veterans Committee not electing anyone from the players' ballot, most of whom spent 15 years on our ballot and didn't come close to attaining the necessary 75% needed for election. I don't even have a problem with the fact that Gil Hodges is probably never getting in after losing ground in this latest election.
Gil Hodges
Although Hodges, in his 15 years on the Baseball Writers ballot, received more cumulative votes than any player not elected to the Hall, his highest plurality was 67% in 1998. In his three shots with this Veterans Committee, he's gotten 62%, 65% and 61%, which tells me that both the writers and the players are consistent in the determination that he's just not quite a Hall of Famer. I suspect that the vast majority of Hall of Fame players who didn't see Hodges play looked at his record for the same things the writers looked for - domination (as in league-leading numbers) and hardware (MVPs) and found none. As productive as Hodges was, knocking in more than 100runs seven straight seasons, he didn't have 2,000 hits, he never led the league in anything in 18 seasons and never finished higher than seventh in any MVP voting.
I believe Joe Morgan, who insisted yesterday the Hall of Famers "did their due diligence" in evaluating and discussing among themselves the merits of all the former players. But when it came to managers and the execs, their vote seemed to me like they really didn't care. I wonder, for instance, how many of them were aware that Dick Williams (who got only 37%) is one of only two managers in history (the other is Hall of Famer Bill McKechnie) to take three different teams to the World Series?
Williams, who managed four World Series teams, winning twice, also significantly improved about every team he ever managed and, as Casey Stengel said, you could look that up, although I doubt any of these voters did. It's a fact that Williams wasn't well-liked by many of his players and that, too, could be a reason why he got so little support on this ballot.
But in terms of what this ballot is supposed to be all about, it's a crime that Marvin Miller, the players' union chief who revolutionized baseball by winning for them free agency and salary arbitration among other monumental rights, was once again denied. As Morgan said: "Marvin Miller's impact on the game is seen every single day." At least Miller improved from 44% in the first composite ballot election in '05 to 63%, but there is enough bias against him among the executives and pre-Miller players on the committee to comprise the 10 votes he missed by.
I would submit the Baseball Writers, many of whom (like myself) had their share of differences with Miller through the years, would agree he was a giant figure in the game's history and belongs in the Hall of Fame. Do you think anyone other than the most erudite baseball historian knows what William Harridge, Warren Giles, Morgan Bulkeley, executives all, did to warrant election to the Hall of Fame? That will never be the case with Miller.
Listening to Jane Forbes Clark yesterday, you got a sense that she concluded there was at least one wrong that needs to be made right if the Hall of Fame, as a museum, is to maintain its sense of history. Its board can do that by giving the composite ballot to the Baseball Writers. For next year and every year thereafter, so that deserving candidates such as Miller, Williams, Whitey Herzog, Bowie Kuhn and Buzzie Bavasi have a chance to be elected while they're still alive.
For them, in their advancing age, this process hasn't just been an exercise in futility; it's been an exercise in cruelty.
Originally published on February 27, 2007
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