Veterans Committee
The Veterans Committee is the popular name of various committees of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum that elect participants other than recently retired players.
Originally, it referenced the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee to Consider Managers, Umpires, Executives and Long-Retired Players; a former voting committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame that provided an opportunity for Hall of Fame enshrinement to all individuals who are eligible for induction but ineligible for consideration by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The term "Veterans Committee" is taken from the body's former official name: National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee on Baseball Veterans, which first met in 1953.
The committee structure and voting process has undergone multiple changes, most recently in April 2022. Currently, baseball players and non-players considered by the committee are classed into two timeframes, the Contemporary Baseball Era and the Classic Baseball Era. Voting is conducted annually in December, with any elected persons inducted into the Hall of Fame the following calendar year. Balloting currently rotates on an annual basis for nominees selected from one of three groups: players of the Contemporary Baseball Era, non-players of the Contemporary Baseball Era, and all persons of the Classic Baseball Era.
History
The Veterans Committee can be traced back to 1939 when Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis formed the Old-Timers Committee to consider players from the 19th century for induction to the Hall of Fame. In 1939, the committee selected five players. In 1944, shortly after Landis' death, the committee voted him into the Hall via a special election. Landis was the 28th person inducted to the Hall—over the next several years, the committee added 23 more: 10 in 1945, 11 in 1946, and 2 in 1949.In 1953, the Veterans Committee met for the first time under the name Committee on Baseball Veterans. In its first voting, the 11-member committee elected six players to the Hall. Starting in 1955, they would meet to elect up to two players in odd-numbered years. In 1959, Lee Allen succeeded Ernest Lanigan as Hall of Fame historian. According to Bill James, Paul Kerr would generally convince the committee to select players that Allen suggested to him, until Allen's death in 1969. In 1961, the Veterans Committee expanded from 11 to 12 members. In 1962, the Veterans Committee went back to annual elections to the Hall of Fame, with the continued mandate to elect up to two players a year. In 1971, the Veterans Committee made seven selections; partly in response to such a large class, the Veterans Committee was then limited to selecting two players and one non-player every year.
Frankie Frisch, a 1947 inductee to the Hall, was a major voice on the committee in the 1970s. Backed by former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Bill Terry and sportswriters J. Roy Stockton and Fred Lieb, who had covered Frisch's teams, he managed to get five of his teammates elected to the Hall by the committee between 1970 and 1973: Jesse Haines, Dave Bancroft, Chick Hafey, Ross Youngs, and George Kelly. Additionally, in the three years after his death, two more teammates were elected. After Frisch died and Terry left the committee, elections were normalized.
After the 1977 election, the Veterans Committee was limited to two selections overall per year. In 1978, membership increased to 15 members; five Hall of Famers, five owners and executives, and five sportswriters. The members would meet in Florida during spring training to elect a player or two every year. The Veterans Committee mandate of up to two players was increased briefly from 1995 to 2001. In these years, the committee could elect one extra player from the Negro leagues and one from the 19th century in addition to the two regular players.
Starting in 1995, the Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to elect as many as two executives, managers, umpires, and older major league players—the categories considered in all its meetings since 1953. By a new arrangement it separately considered candidates from the Negro leagues and from the 19th century with authority to select one from each of those, via two special ballots. The older players eligible were those with ten major league seasons beginning 1946 or earlier; those who received at least 100 votes from the BBWAA in some election up to 1992; and those who received at least 60% support in some election beginning 1993. Players on Major League Baseball's ineligible list could not be elected. The committee could elect up to four people each year.
During much of its existence, the Veterans Committee consisted of 15 members selected by the Hall of Fame for defined terms. A six-man subcommittee of this group met as a screening committee to determine who would be on the ballot. The committee met annually to consider candidates in four separate categories: players, managers, umpires, and executives. The Veterans Committee met privately, and its ballots and voting results were generally not revealed prior to 2003. From the mid-1970s until 2001, the top candidate in each category was elected to the Hall of Fame if he earned at least 75% of the committee's votes.
The Board of Directors reformed the system radically with new rules enacted in August 2001. Formerly, 15 members were appointed to limited terms; the new Veterans Committee would comprise all living members of the Hall, plus recipients of the Spink and Frick awards to writers and broadcasters. In particular, the new members were 61 living Hall of Famers, 13 living recipients of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award, 13 living recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award, and three members of the previous committee with terms that had not yet expired. Elections for players retired more than 20 years would be held every other year and elections for would be held every fourth year. The first cycle for both categories would be in 2002 and 2003 for induction in 2003.
Revisions to the voting process
2001 revisions
In 2001, the Hall of Fame radically changed the composition and election procedures for the Veterans Committee, which was revised to consist of:- All living members of the Hall of Fame;
- All living recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award for baseball broadcasters;
- And all living recipients of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writers.
The election procedures instituted in 2003 are listed below. The procedures were [|changed again in 2007]. Rules, and portions thereof, that changed in 2007 are indicated in italics.
- Elections for players would now be held every two years, starting in 2003.
- Managers, umpires, and executives would be elected from a single composite ballot every four years, starting in 2003.
- The Historical Overview Committee, a ten-member panel appointed by the secretary-treasurer of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, created an initial list of figures from whom both ballots would be created. At this point, the players' ballot consisted of 200 players.
- Ballots were screened by two groups – a sixty-member panel drawn from the membership of the BBWAA, and a panel of six living Hall of Famers selected by the Hall of Fame Board. The Hall of Famer panel selected five players for the players' ballot, and the BBWAA panel selected twenty-five players for the players' ballot, as well as all candidates for the composite ballot.
- The selections of the Hall of Famer and BBWAA panels were then merged, creating a single players' ballot. Players chosen on both ballots appeared only once on this ballot, which now contained a minimum of twenty-five and a maximum of thirty players.
- The players' ballot and composite ballot are made public before voting.
- Balloting is held by mail, with a stated deadline.
- The Veterans Committee vote is made public after voting.
- All candidates who receive 75% or more of the vote are elected; election is no longer restricted to only the top vote-getter.
- Every player with ten or more years of major-league experience who has not been active in the previous twenty years, and is not on Major League Baseball's ineligible list, is eligible for Veterans Committee consideration. In the past, players who did not receive a certain percentage of the votes on a BBWAA ballot were permanently ineligible for Hall of Fame consideration.
2007 revisions
Following the 2007 elections, the makeup of the committee was again changed, and several procedures were also modified:Changes affecting all elections
- The Historical Overview Committee will continue to formulate the players and managers/umpires ballots, but it will now present a players' ballot of only twenty players and a managers/umpires ballot of only ten figures. The executives ballot, consisting of ten individuals, will be formulated by the voting body for that ballot.
Changes affecting player elections
- The players ballot is now restricted to players whose careers began in 1943 or later.
- Voting for the players ballot is now restricted to Hall of Fame. Winners of the Frick and Spink Awards are considered "honorees" and are thus ineligible to vote on the main players ballot.
- The list of those eligible for the players ballot will be separately reviewed by a six-member panel of Hall of Famers, which will select five players for the ballot.
- Next, all living Hall of Famers are invited to a meeting at the Hall of Fame during induction weekend. The Hall of Famers who are present at this meeting will narrow the list to a final ballot of 10 players.
- The final players ballot is sent to all living Hall of Famers, who can vote for as many as four individuals.