John "Bud" Fowler, SABR's 2020 Overlooked 19th Century Legend who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2022 (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY)

Vote now for the 2021 SABR Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend

John "Bud" Fowler (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY)Each year, SABR’s Nineteenth Century Research Committee selects its Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend — a 19th century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

All SABR members are eligible to cast a vote for the winner. The winner will be announced this summer during a Nineteenth Century Committee virtual meeting.

This December, the Hall of Fame’s Early Baseball Committee will meet and vote on eligible candidates for induction whose greatest contributions to the game were realized prior to 1950. This committee is not scheduled to vote again for nine more years, until 2030.

  • 2021 finalists: Earlier this year, project leaders selected the 15 finalists for the 2021 Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend. Click here to download a PDF with the finalists’ bios, compiled by project co-chairs Adam Darowski and Joe Williams. Voting in the final election will run until May 24, and will be open to all SABR members.
  • Vote now! Click here to access the 2021 ballot. All SABR members are eligible to vote in the election for this year’s Overlooked 19th Century Legend. You *MUST* select five candidates — ranking them from first choice to fifth choice — from among the candidates presented. You are only allowed to vote once. ALL BALLOTS MUST BE CAST PRIOR TO 11:59 p.m. PDT on Monday, May 24, 2021.

Click here for a list of past winners or to learn more about the project.



Originally published: May 4, 2021. Last Updated: May 4, 2021.