Veterans Committee

The Veterans Committee is the popular name of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee to Consider Managers, Umpires, Executives and Long-Retired Players,^[1] a committee of the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame that provides an opportunity for Hall of Fame election to all individuals who are eligible for induction but ineligible for consideration by the Baseball Writers Association of America. As of the 2011 election process, it is responsible for considering individuals in the following categories:

• Players who are no longer eligible for the BBWAA ballot
• Managers
• Umpires
• Executives, including team owners, general managers, and league officials.

The term "Veterans Committee" is taken from the body's former official name: National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee on Baseball Veterans. It is no longer officially used by the Hall, which now calls the voting bodies the Expansion Era Committee, Golden Era Committee, and Pre-Integration Era Committee.^[2] However, it remains in wide use by sports media.^[3]

History

During much of its existence, the Veterans Committee consisted of 15 members selected by the Hall of Fame for defined terms. A six-man subcommittee of this group met as a screening committee to determine who would be on the ballot. The committee met annually to consider candidates in four separate categories:

• Players
• Managers
• Umpires
• Executives

The Veterans Committee met privately, and its ballots and voting results were generally not revealed prior to 2003. From the mid-1970s until 2001, the top candidate in each category was elected to the Hall of Fame if he earned at least 75% of the committee's votes.

Revisions to the voting process

2001 revisions

In 2001, the Hall of Fame radically changed the composition and election procedures for the Veterans Committee, which was revised to consist of:

• All living members of the Hall of Fame;
• All living recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award for baseball broadcasters;
• And all living recipients of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writers.

All members of the former Veterans Committee remained active until the expiration of their terms. Only two were on the committee for the 2003 election, the first under the new election procedures. Only one of the former Veterans Committee members (John McHale) remained on the committee for the 2005 and 2007 elections, and his term expired immediately after the 2007 election.

The election procedures instituted in 2003 are listed below. The procedures were changed again in 2007. Rules, and portions thereof, that changed in 2007 are indicated in italics.

• Elections for players would now be held every two years, starting in 2003.
• Managers, umpires, and executives would be elected from a single composite ballot every four years, starting in 2003.
• The Historical Overview Committee, a 10-member panel appointed by the secretary-treasurer of the Baseball Writers Association of America, created an initial list of figures from whom both ballots would be created. At this point, the players' ballot consisted of 200 players.
• Ballots were screened by two groups – a 60-member panel drawn from the membership of the BBWAA, and a panel of six living Hall of Famers selected by the Hall of Fame Board. The Hall of Famer panel selected five players for the players' ballot, and the BBWAA panel selected 25 players for the players' ballot, as well as all candidates for the composite ballot.
• The selections of the Hall of Famer and BBWAA panels were then merged, creating a single players' ballot. Players chosen on both ballots appeared only once on this ballot, which now contained a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 30 players.
• The players' ballot and composite ballot (15 candidates) are made public before voting.
• Balloting is held by mail, with a stated deadline.
• The Veterans Committee vote is made public after voting.
• All candidates who receive 75% or more of the vote are elected; election is no longer restricted to only the top vote-getter.
• Every player with 10 or more years of major-league experience who has not been active in the previous 20 years, and is not on Major League Baseball's ineligible list, is eligible for Veterans Committee consideration. In the past, players who did not receive a certain percentage of the votes on a BBWAA ballot were permanently ineligible for Hall of Fame consideration.

Using these procedures, no one was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2003, 2005, or 2007.

2007 revisions

Following the 2007 elections, the makeup of the committee was again changed, and several procedures were also modified:^[4]

Changes affecting all elections

• The Historical Overview Committee will continue to formulate the players and managers/umpires ballots, but it will now present a players' ballot of only 20 players and a managers/umpires ballot of only 10 figures. The executives ballot, consisting of 10 individuals, will be formulated by the voting body for that ballot.

Changes affecting player elections

• The players ballot is now restricted to players whose careers began in 1943 or later.
• Voting for the players ballot is now restricted to Hall of Fame members. Winners of the Frick and Spink Awards are considered "honorees" and are thus ineligible to vote on the main players ballot.
• The list of those eligible for the players ballot will be separately reviewed by a six-member panel of Hall of Famers, which will select five players for the ballot.
• Next, all living Hall of Famers are invited to a meeting at the Hall of Fame during induction weekend. The Hall of Famers who are present at this meeting will narrow the list to a final ballot of 10 players.
• The final players ballot is sent to all living Hall of Famers, who can vote for as many as four individuals.

Pre-World War II players

• Players whose careers began before 1943 are now considered every five years by a committee of 12 Hall of Famers, writers, and baseball historians, to be chosen by the Hall of Fame Board. The first election of pre-World War II players was conducted in 2009.

Changes affecting non-player elections

• The composite ballot will be split into two separate ballots, one for managers and umpires and the other for executives.
• Voting on the managers/umpires and executives ballots will now be conducted for induction in even-numbered years, starting with the class of 2008.
• The voting body for the managers/umpires ballot will be a 16-member body of Hall of Famers, executives, and media veterans appointed by the Hall of Fame Board.
• The voting body for the executives ballot will be a separate 12-member body of Hall of Famers, executives, and media veterans appointed by the Hall of Fame Board.
• Each ballot is presented to the applicable voting board. As is the case for the players' ballot, each voter can choose as many as four individuals.

The threshold for induction remained at 75% of all who voted on the appropriate ballot. In the first election held under the new rules, two managers and three executives were elected in December 2007 as part of the 2008 election process.

2010 revisions

The Hall announced a new Veterans Committee voting process on June 26, 2010, effective with the 2011 election process. The two biggest changes are:^[5]

• Managers, umpires, executives, and players will now be considered on a single ballot.
• Living Hall of Fame members will no longer constitute a single electoral body. Instead, separate subcommittees will be created to vote on individuals from different eras of baseball.

Candidates will be classified by the era in which they made their greatest contributions, as follows:

• Pre-Integration (1871–1946)
• Golden (1947–1972)
• Expansion (1973 and later)

Candidates from each era will be considered every third year, starting with the Expansion Era in the 2011 election, followed by the Golden Era and then by the Pre-Integration Era.

The existing Historical Overview Committee will formulate each ballot for release in the October or November before the next planned induction ceremony. The Expansion Era ballot will include 12 candidates, while the other two ballots will include 10 each. The Hall's Board of Directors will select 16-member committees for each era, made up of Hall of Famers, executives, baseball historians, and media members. Each committee will convene at the Winter Meetings in December to consider and vote on candidates from its assigned era. As before, the threshold of induction will remain at 75% of those voting.^[5]

Members

Current

As of the 2011 election, the only Veterans Committee members to have been announced are those voting for the post-1972 Expansion Era candidates.^[1]

Expansion Era Committee members

Hall of Famers

• Johnny Bench
• Whitey Herzog
• Eddie Murray
• Jim Palmer
• Tony Pérez
• Frank Robinson
• Ryne Sandberg
• Ozzie Smith

Executives

• Bill Giles
• David Glass
• Andy MacPhail
• Jerry Reinsdorf

Media

• Bob Elliott
• Tim Kurkjian
• Ross Newhan
• Tom Verducci

Golden Era Committee members

This 16-member committee was announced in November 2011, and conducted its first vote at the 2011 winter meetings as part of the 2012 voting process.^[6]

Hall of Famers

• Hank Aaron
• Pat Gillick
• Al Kaline
• Ralph Kiner
• Tommy Lasorda
• Juan Marichal
• Brooks Robinson
• Billy Williams

Executives

• Paul Beeston
• Bill DeWitt
• Roland Hemond
• Gene Michael
• Al Rosen

Media

• Dick Kaegel
• Jack O'Connell
• Dave Van Dyck

Pre-Integration Era Committee members

This 16-member committee will be announced in October or November 2012, and will conduct its first vote at the 2012 winter meetings as part of the 2013 voting process.

Recent past members

As of the 2010 election, the members of the Veterans Committee were:^[7]

Pre-1943 Veterans Committee members

Hall of Famers

• Bobby Doerr
• Ralph Kiner
• Phil Niekro
• Duke Snider
• Don Sutton
• Dick Williams

Historians

• Furman Bisher
• Roland Hemond
• Steve Hirdt
• Bill Madden
• Claire Smith

Post-1942 Veterans Committee members (67)

Notes and references

External links

• Baseball Hall of Fame: The Veterans Committee