Baseball Hall of Fame: McGwire, Selig and Steinbrenner Appear on New Ballot
By Tim Haberin
Mark McGwire, Bud Selig and George Steinbrenner will all be up for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame on one of this year’s Eras Committee ballots. How do their cases for induction stack up?
With the MLB postseason set to begin, this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame election is likely far from anyone’s mind. However, a group of very familiar names that will appear on the ballot might be enough to get some fans’ attention.
Yesterday, the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced the candidates up for election by the new Today’s Game Era Committee. The highlights include prolific slugger Mark McGwire, former Commissioner Bud Selig and late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
Also included on the ballot will be Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Lou Piniella and John Schuerholz.
Back in July, the Hall of Fame announced some significant changes to its voting procedure. The Veterans Committee – which for years had voted on players who had fallen off the BBWAA ballot, along with managers, executives and other important figures in the history of the game – would be replaced by four Eras Committees. Each would cover a specific period in baseball history: Early Baseball (1871-1949), Golden Days (1950-1969), Modern Baseball (1970-1987) and Today’s Game (1988-Present).
The 16-member Today’s Game Era Committee will provide a new opportunity for relatively recent figures in baseball to be recognized for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. Candidates must receive votes on at least 75 percent of the ballots to be selected for induction.
So out of the big names announced yesterday, who is most likely to get in?
The controversy surrounding McGwire’s case requires little introduction. He is 11th on the all-time list with 583 career home runs. His thrilling home run chase with Sammy Sosa in the 1998 season was one of the most memorable baseball events of the decade, one that ended with both players breaking Roger Maris‘ single-season record and McGwire finishing the year with a staggering 70 homers.
After retirement, McGwire would eventually admit to steroid use, and like most players whose reputations are clouded by performance-enhancing substances, Hall of Fame voters have pretty much turned their backs on “Big Mac.” While no one can say for sure how the 16 members of this committee will vote, it’s hard to see them adopting a different stance. McGwire has taken on a conciliatory tone in recent years and also re-entered the baseball landscape as a coach, but that will likely have little effect in remedying his legacy on the field.
Steinbrenner purchased the Yankees in 1973 and the rest, as they say, is history. The Bronx Bombers won seven World Series titles under “The Boss,” who became notorious for his bombastic brand of leadership. He was a forerunner of the type of vocal, hands-on owner widely seen today across all major sports.
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Of course, Steinbrenner’s legacy was not without its blemishes either. He ran into trouble in 1974 after making illegal contributions to Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign. In 1990, Major League Baseball banned him from day-to-day management of the Yankees after discovering that he paid a gambler to dig up dirt on Dave Winfield. The star outfielder was embroiled in a dispute with the club, claiming it failed to make a donation to his foundation that was stipulated in his contract. Steinbrenner would be reinstated in 1993.
Despite Steinbrenner’s popular image and persona, which continues to live long after his 2010 death, he is still somewhat of a polarizing figure in baseball circles. His induction would be an interesting one given his frequently stormy history in the game, but it hardly seems guaranteed either.
You probably won’t find many self-proclaimed, card-carrying fans of Bud Selig, but the way the league transformed under his watch is undeniable. He was named acting commissioner in 1992, finally taking on the official title six years later. Selig oversaw several major changes to the league, including the additions of the Wild Card in 1994, interleague play in 1997, and two expansion franchises in 1998. He stepped down at the beginning of 2015, making way for current Commissioner Rob Manfred.
Nevertheless, Selig is not without his detractors. Some argue that he turned a convenient blind eye to steroid use in the sport in the 90s when home run barrages were raising the league’s media profile. When public scrutiny began to intensify years later, Selig’s response was tepid at beast. He feigned ignorance at some points and cast himself as an anti-PED crusader at others, swearing to “get to the bottom of it” via 2007’s Mitchell Report and other investigations. It certainly wasn’t the best look, for either the commissioner or baseball in general.
Still, after 22 years on the job, Selig was the second longest-tenured commissioner behind Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and that will count for something. Of the three headliners on the ballot, Selig’s selection might be the most feasible. It also seems like the kind of self-congratulatory thing that is appropriate here (this is the man who won his own leadership award, after all).
Some of the other candidates on the Today’s Game ballot shouldn’t be ignored either. In spite of a somewhat uneven finish to his career, Hershiser could be honored for the 1984-1989 period, during which he was one of the game’s best pitchers (2.68 ERA; record 59 consecutive scoreless innings in ’88). Lou Piniella should receive some consideration for his managerial career as well.
This will all play out a bit further down the line, but it’s something intriguing for baseball fans to chew on while waiting for those much-anticipated playoff games to begin.