Deane: How about a ‘contributors’ category for Cooperstown?
From SABR member Bill Deane at WordPress on September 7, 2017:
The Pro Football Hall of Fame has a category called “contributors” among those considered and enshrined there. So does the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. And the World Golf Hall of Fame, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Just about every major Hall of Fame has that category, or something equivalent.
Except the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The early Baseball Hall elections didn’t categorize candidates, or even have formal ballots. If you got enough votes, you were enshrined. The BBWAA considered 20th-century players, while special old-timers’ committees elected men who, decades later, were categorized as pioneers, executives, managers, or old-time players.
Read the full article here: https://dizzydeane.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/how-about-a-contributors-category-for-cooperstown/
Originally published: September 7, 2017. Last Updated: September 7, 2017.