Jaffe: Hall of Fame’s Vets Committee changes are welcome move
From SABR member Jay Jaffe at Sports Illustrated on July 26, 2016:
Last December, after the Pre-Integration Committee failed to elect anyone to the Hall of Fame on the heels of the Golden Era Committee’s shutout in December 2014, one committee member suggested to me that changes to the process were likely in store. Indeed, amid the Hall of Fame Induction Weekend festivities on Saturday, the institution quietly issued a press release announcing a significant reorganization of the means by which executives, managers, umpires and long-retired players are considered for Cooperstown. While the resulting system is more complex than the one it replaced, it addresses several of the criticisms levied at the Hall in this space in recent years.
Back in 2010, the Hall of Fame split the Veterans Committee into three era-based committees that considered candidates on a triennial basis in connection to the period where they made the greatest impact, namely the Pre-Integration Era (1871–1946), Golden Era (’47–72), and Expansion Era (’73 onward). That was actually the third significant tweak to the process in this young millennium, following the radical expansion of the Veterans Committee voting to include all living players and also Spink and Frick award winners (writers and broadcasters) in 2001, then a retooling six years later to separate out pre-World War II players, post-war players and non-players (managers, execs and umps) into three separate processes.
Read the full article here: http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/07/26/baseball-hall-of-fame-era-committees-rule-changes
Originally published: July 26, 2016. Last Updated: July 26, 2016.