(Pete Rose .org)

This is the name given to a separate body of the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame, a group specifically created to provide an opportunity to induct all those eligible for the honour but who, for a myriad reasons, do not qualify for consideration by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Its official name is unwieldy – The National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee to Consider Managers, Umpires, Executives and Long-Retired Players – and its unofficial name – The Veterans’ Committee describes its function well.

 

 

As of this year, it carries the responsibility for considering individuals, who are categorized as follows,

 

-       players who are no longer eligible for consideration by the BWAA;

-       managers;

-       umpires;

-       executives in baseball, including team owners, general managers and League officials.

 

Originally, its first official name was the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee on Baseball Veterans. This name is no longer used by the Hall of Fame, which has given different names to different committees; for example, the Expansion Era Committee, the Golden Era Committee and the Pre-Integration Era Committee – but the sportswriters continue to call it the Veterans’ Committee because of its brevity.

 

The Veterans’ Committee comprised fifteen members who were selected to serve for a limited period of time. The Committee established a sub-committee of six men who screened eligible individuals from whom a list was drawn for the ballot. The members met once a year to consider those eligible within the four categories mentioned above. The meeting was held in-camera and the results of their deliberations and voting were not made public until 2003. Between the mid 70’s until 2001, when the rules changed, the top candidate in each of the four categories was elected to the Hall if he received a minimum of 75% of the vote.

 

However, in 2001, the Veterans’ Committee election processes and its composition were studied, reviewed and changed to include,

 

-       all living members of the Hall of Fame;

-       all living recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award for baseball broadcasters;

-       all living recipients of the J. G. Taylor Spink for baseball writers.

 

Every member of the Veterans’ Committee remained active until their terms of service expired. Just two were on the Committee for the Hall of Fame election in 2003, which was the first one to operate under the new procedures. John McHale was the only member to remain on the Committee for the elections of 2005 and 2007, following which his term of service expired.

 

Further adaptations were made in 2003,

 

1.     elections for players were to be held every two years;

2.     the Historical Overview Committee, a committee comprising ten members appointed by the BWAA drew up a list of 200 individuals from which the Players’ Ballot was drawn;

3.     ballots were screened by a panel of six living Hall of Famers, chosen by the Hall of Fame Board and this panel chose five players for the Players’ Ballot;

4.     a single Players’ Ballot was then created, merging the two lists of those selected by the BWAA and the Hall of Famers – those players appearing on both lists, were named only once on the merged ballot;

5.     the Players’ Ballot was made public before the voting took place;

6.     the balloting which included a deadline, was conducted by mail;

7.     the vote of the  Veterans’ Committee was made public once it was completed;

8.    all those candidates who earned 75% or more of the vote were elected – it was no longer restricted to the one individual who received the most votes;

9.     those players who did not receive a pre-set percentage of the votes cast were considered permanently ineligible for induction to the Hall of Fame.

 

Under these rules, the Veterans’ Committee elected nobody to the Hall of Fame in 2003, 2005 or 2007. After the non-election of 2007, the composition of the Committee was changed again and some of the procedures were modified,

 

-       managers, umpires and executives would now be elected every four years from one composite ballot;

-       the list created by the Historical Overview Committee would now be used for both ballots;

-       ballots would be screened by two separate groups – the already-mentioned panel of six living Hall of Famers chosen by the Board and a sixty-member panel chosen from the membership of the BWAA which would choose twenty-fiveHall of Fa  players for the Players’ Ballot in addition to all those for the composite ballot;

-       as well as the Players’ Ballot, the composite ballot of no less than fifteen would be made public prior to the vote;

-       any player who had spent ten or more years in the Major Leagues without being active during the previous twenty years and who did not appear on the ineligible list would now qualify for the Veterans’ Committee consideration.

 

As of today, the Historical Overview Committee will continue to draw up ballots for players, managers and umpires, but the Players’ Ballot will now consist of only twenty players and a ballot of only ten managers or umpires. The Executives’ Ballot will be formulated by its own voting body.

 

The Players’ Ballot is now restricted to those whose careers began in 1943 or later and voting for that ballot is the responsibility of Hall of Fame members only. Those who have earned the Spink and Frick awards are no longer eligible to vote on the ballot as they are considered “honourees.” A six-member panel of the Hall of Famers will now review the list of those eligible for the Players’ Ballot and will select five individuals to appear on the ballot. Following this, all living Hall of Famers will attend a meeting at the Hall of Fame during the weekend of the inductions. These members will reduce the list to a final ballot of just ten players. This list will be sent to all living Hall of Famers who may each vote for as many as four individuals.

 

Those players who began their professional baseball careers prior to 1943 are now considered once every five years, by a Committee of twelve Hall of Famers, writers and baseball historians, selected by the Hall of Fame Board. 2009 was the first year during which pre-World War II players were elected.

 

Changes affected the non-player elections have also been introduced. The composite ballot is now two separate ballots – one for umpires and managers and the other for executives. The induction vote started in 2008 now takes place in even-numbered years only. The voting for the umpires and managers will be carried out by a sixteen-member group comprising Hall of Famers, executives and media members appointed by the Hall’s Board. Voting for the executives’ ballot will be by a twelve-member group appointed by the Board. Every ballot is presented to the appropriate voting group and, just as for players, each member may choose up to four individuals. The percentage of votes required for induction remains at 75%. In December, 2007, two managers and three executives were elected as part of the 2008 voting procedure.

 

Some significant changes were made to the Veterans’ Committee voting procedures in June, 2010, which will be effective in the 2011 election. Umpires, managers, executives and players will now appear on one single ballot. Another change is that living Hall of Fame members will no longer act as a single electoral body; separate sub-committees will vote on individuals from different baseball eras. These individuals will be categorized by the period during which they made their greatest contributions to the game of baseball;

 

-            Pre-integration, from 1871 to 1946;

-            Golden Era, from 1947 to 1972;

-            Expansion Era, from 1973 and beyond.

 

Individuals from each of the above eras will be considered by the sub-committees every third year, starting in 2011 with the Expansion Era (twelve candidates), then the Golden Era (ten candidates)a  Ha and finally, the Pre-Integration Era (ten candidates).

 

The Historical Overview Committee will draw up each ballot to be released at the end of the year prior to the next induction ceremonies. The Board of Directors will choose committees composed of sixteen members for each era and these will comprise Hall of Famers, executives, baseball historians and members of the media. Each committee will assemble at the Winter Meetings in December to review and vote on those individuals from its assigned era – and as before, the percentage will remain at 75%.

 

As of 2011, the Veterans’ Committee who will vote on the Expansion Era candidates have been announced. The sixteen Golden Era members will be announced in October or November of this year and will first vote at the 2011 Winter Meetings in readiness for the 2012 voting process. For the Pre-Integration Committee, its sixteen members will be made public in October or November of 2012 and will first vote during the 2012 Winter Meetings as part of the 2013 voting process.

 

And if Pete Rose unbends sufficiently and agrees to apologize to the Baseball Hall of Fame, he may even now be permitted to enter its Golden Gates and join his fellow Gods of Baseball on his well-deserved throne.