In what should be a surprise to nobody who has paid attention to Veteran’s Committees of any kind over the past few decades from the Baseball Hall of Fame, they have elected none of the twelve nominees to Cooperstown.
The Golden Era Committee, which replaced the Veteran’s Committee, convenes every three years focusing on players from the 1947 to 1972 era.
Dick Allen and Tony Oliva each received 11 of the available 16 votes cast; one short of the 12 needed for election. Although this is a bitter pill to swallow for the family of Allen, he was not on the ballot three years ago and for him to come one vote shy of induction gives hope that it could come soon. Allen was the 1972 American League MVP, and considered one of the most feared hitters of his day, but never received more than 20% of the ballot on his fifteen years on the writer’s ballot.
Tony Oliva’s 11 votes are 3 up from his total three years ago. Oliva spent his entire career with the Minnesota Twins and won three Batting Titles and led the A.L. in hits five times. During Oliva’s fifteen years on the writer’s ballot he peaked at 47.3%.
Jim Kaat finished third in this year’s vote with 10 votes, the same amount he had on the last Golden Era Vote. Kaat is regarded as the greatest fielding Pitcher in baseball history and while on the writer’s ballot peaked as high as 29.6%.
Maury Wills finished with 9 votes, which again should be viewed as a small victory as he was not on the ballot on the inaugural Golden Era Ballot. On Wills’ fifteen years on the ballot his highest mark was 40.6% and he was the 1962 National League MVP and a six time Stolen Base Champion.
Minnie Minoso finished with 8 votes, down from one from the 9 he received on the last vote. Minoso’s highest vote tally with the writers was 21.1 %.
Ken Boyer, Luis Tiant, Bob Howsam, Gil Hodges and Billy Pierce only received 3 votes are less.
This has to be to a major blow for the supporters of Gil Hodges, who witnessed the support for the popular Brooklyn Dodger plummet from 9 votes to 3. Hodges holds the dubious distinction of accumulating the most votes by the writers without getting elected. On the last Golden Era Ballot, Boyer and Tiant also had three votes last time.
It should be noted that this is a different 16 man committee from the 2011 group that met. Only Hall of Famer Al Kaline and media member Dick Kaegel were part of both groups.
The Golden Era Committee will convene again in three years. Next year the Pre Integration era (1871 to 1946) will be looked at by a special committee, followed by the Expansion Era (1973 to present). This will continue to rotate.
It is unlikely that the 2015 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony will see nobody inducted as Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz are entering their first ballot, and all are strong candidates to be chosen on January 6th, when the baseball writer’s ballot is announced.
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