Almost 50 years ago, the late Ford Frick, the Hall of Fame’s founding father, spoke at a national meeting of the Baseball Writers Association of America and said, “You have to start electing people or we’re going to take it away from you.”
This long-ago warning came to mind with receipt of the 1997 Hall of Fame ballot. There are 30 candidates, but in the main, the list of nominees is the same as last year when no player passed muster. Only three came close to the required 75 percent of the returned ballots:
Pitcher Phil Niekro of the Atlanta Braves, 68.3 percent; Cincinnati slugger Tony Perez, 65.7; and Los Angeles pitcher Don Sutton, 63.8.
They are back, along with several other worthy candidates such as Ron Santo of the Cubs and Jim Rice of the Red Sox, and so the electorate (10-year members of the BBWAA) has another shot. The prediction here is that this time around one or more will walk through the gates. But there are no guarantees.
Their credentials are unchanged. None of the eligibles has won a game or driven in a run for at least five years; for most it has been much longer. Santo is in his 19th season of retirement. The uniform was torn off Sutton’s back eight years ago, Niekro’s 10.
The only possible change would have to be in the hearts and minds of the voters, who generally were criticized a year ago for their supposed lack of expertise. Sutton and Niekro, for example, are the only 300-game winners denied baseball immortality.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” said Jack O’Connell of the Hartford Courant, secretary of the BBWAA. “We’re hoping somebody gets in.”
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So does Don Marr, the president of the Hall of Fame.
“I’m neutral,” Marr said from his Upstate New York office in beautiful Otesaga County. “Over the years the writers have done a very good job. But speaking as a fan, I would think that anyone who won 300 games would be entitled to the ultimate recognition.”
And what if nobody makes it? Would there be a runoff?
“Elections should happen naturally,” Marr replied.
Still, in the absence of an immediate inductee there have been three runoffs–in 1949, 1964 and again in 1967. Luke Appling, probably the greatest all-around player in Sox history, won in a runoff.
“He was always angry about it,” revealed Baseball Digest’s editor, Jack Kuenster, who was among Appling’s best friends. “For many years Luke was steaming. He believed he should have been voted in like everyone else.”
An outstanding defensive shortstop, he twice led the American League in batting. In fact, with seven more hits in 1936, he would have hit .400. Appling was elected in the ’64 runoff. He and Yankees pitcher Red Ruffing drew 71 percent in the regular voting. They then were matched against each other in a special election. Appling won the runoff, 84 percent to 82 percent. Four years later, Ruffing beat Cardinals outfielder Joe Medwick in a similar runoff.
Earning election to the Hall Fame never has been a science. Despite the increasing reliance on statistics, this, too, should not be the sole barometer of achievement. Stats alone are not an accurate index of a player’s value.
With the passing of time, many credentialed critics have insisted the honor of a berth in baseball’s Valhalla has diminished. Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner were chosen in 1936, the first election. The following year it was Cy Young, Tris Speaker and Nap Lajoie.
There is no question the standards have been lowered ever since–except with the election of the comparatively recent galaxy that includes Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton and a handful of others.
If the shrine were limited to such superstars, there would be no more than about 30 bronzed plaques in the hallowed halls. Some baseball writers–and this is not a criticism–believe “the more the merrier.” I am in between. Each writer can vote for as many as 10 candidates. I voted for five, same as last year: Niekro, Perez, Sutton, Santo and Rice.