SABR Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legends
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.
This will be the final SABR Nineteenth Century Overlooked Legends election. From 2009 through 2025, 17 selections were made. In 2026, we will choose eight additional selections, completing the project with 25 Overlooked Legends. The ballot is split into four tracks, with two winners to be selected from each track:
- Players from the Major Leagues (1876–1900)
- Pioneers/Contributors
- Managers/Executives/Umpires
- Black Baseball
All SABR members are eligible to cast a vote. The winners will be announced this summer during the Nineteenth Century Committee’s business meeting at SABR 54 in Cleveland, Ohio.
- 2026 finalists: Earlier this year, committee members selected the finalists for the 2026 Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend. Click here to view the finalists’ bios, compiled by project co-chairs Adam Darowski and Joe Williams.
- Vote now! Click here to access the 2026 ballot. All SABR members are eligible to vote in the election for this year’s Overlooked 19th Century Legend. You will vote for ten (ranked) candidates from the ballot, regardless of the track. ALL BALLOTS MUST BE CAST PRIOR TO 11:59 p.m. PDT on Sunday, June 21, 2026.
The Hall of Fame’s Classic Baseball Era Committee, which votes on eligible candidates for induction whose greatest contributions to the game were realized prior to 1980, is next scheduled to vote in December 2027.
Here are the previous Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legends:
- 2025: Al Reach
- 2024: Chris Von der Ahe
- 2023: Bobby Mathews
- 2022: Moses Fleetwood Walker
- 2021: Charlie Bennett
- 2020: Bud Fowler (elected to Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022)
- 2019: Jim Creighton
- 2018: William Hoy
- 2017: Bob Caruthers
- 2016: Jack Glasscock
- 2015: Tony Mullane
- 2014: Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams
- 2013: Ross Barnes
- 2012: Bill Dahlen
- 2011: Harry Stovey
- 2010: Deacon White (elected to Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013)
- 2009: Pete Browning
To receive e-mail announcements on the Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legends Project and other committee announcements, click the “Join Group” button here.
For more information on the Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legends Project, contact project co-chairs Adam Darowski or Joe Williams, or visit the project’s Facebook page.