Whirty: Hall of Fame: No more Negro Leaguers and no changes to policy
From SABR member Ryan Whirty at Home Plate Don’t Move on January 14, 2016:
According to National Baseball Hall of Fame Vice President of Communications and Education Brad Horn, for the foreseeable future, the Hall’s board of directors has no plans to change or even revisit its current policy of keeping additional segregation-era African-American candidates out of Cooperstown.
I spoke with Mr. Horn this morning, and he confirmed what many Negro Leagues enthusiasts have both feared and protested ever since a special committee elected 17 Negro League figures in 2006.
“The board is comfortable with its [election] process at this time,” he said. “It does not have a perpetual process to consider Negro Leaguers. The board said that at the time in 2006, and it hasn’t deviated from that at this point.”
I suggested to him that a few Negro Leagues fans and researchers such as my Malloy roommate Ted Knorr have crunched the numbers and found what they believe to be a woeful under-representation of segregation-era African-American players, managers and executives. Compared to the number of white, pre-1947 Major Leaguers, the number of black candidates in the hall is miniscule.
Mr. Horn said that he and the HOF’s board certainly understand that argument, but he added that despite any such ratios, right now the Hall is sticking to its guns.
“In 2006, the Hall of Fame said [the special committee] served as the final consideration for the Negro Leaguers,” he said.
“But,” he quickly added, “we kept the door open for new research to be considered. [The current policy] doesn’t mean that it won’t happen at some point.”
Read the full article here: https://homeplatedontmove.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/hof-no-more-negro-leaguers-and-no-changes-to-policy/
Originally published: January 14, 2016. Last Updated: January 14, 2016.