Good Choices On Hall Ballot

Not a single name among the 10 baseball figures on the Golden Era ballot for consideration as potential Hall of Famers is questionable. A solid case can be made for the eight players and two executives who will be discussed as possible members of the 2012 class when the Baseball Winter Meetings convene Dec. 5.

Those listed are players Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant, and Allie Reynolds and executives Buzzie Bavasi and Charlie Finley.

I don’t have a vote, but I do have an opinion. If it had been up to me Minnie Minoso and Ron Santo would have been in the Hall long ago. Ranking these choices in order I would list 1) Minoso; 2) Santo; 3) Kaat; 4) Hodges; 5) Reynolds; 6) Boyer; 7) Bavasi; 8 ) Oliva; 9) Finley; 10) Tiant.

I ran the choices by a friend of mine, a retired newspaper editor and serious baseball fan named Bob Gustin, for his thoughts and his first-blush reaction on whom he would support was: All of them. While that’s generous, I don’t disagree. All 10 have good things on their resumes to recommend them. Pushed to narrow down his choices Bob selected Hodges as his No. 1 pick, saying he believes he is “an obvious omission” from the Hall’s roster.

Hodges was an eight-time All-Star for the Dodgers and although I don’t think you are supposed to factor in non-playing accomplishments, I have to give him bonus points for managing the New York Mets to the 1969 World Series championship.

As an example of the type of spontaneous baseball conversations Gustin and I have engaged in over the last year-and-a-half, one day a few months ago he sauntered up to me and asked, “How about Ken Boyer for the Hall of Fame?” I hadn’t really considered Boyer as a particularly strong candidate before, but I did some research and concluded Boyer had at least as strong a case as several other players. The third baseman best known for his years with the St. Louis Cardinals, won the 1964 National League Most Valuable Player award and was a seven-time All-Star. He may not have been as slick a fielder as his brother Clete with the Yankees, but he was solid, and he was a better player than his other Major League brother Cloyd, who pitched for the Cardinals and the Kansas City Athletics.

In saying that he would vote for all 10 of the people on the ballot, Gustin admitted to being a sentimentalist of sorts. That is a challenge when you are entrusted with a ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame or any other Hall of Fame. Some years ago I was a voter for the Basketball Hall of Fame and when I reviewed credentials I felt badly not voting in favor of a player I had seriously rooted for when I was much younger. The player, I concluded, was very, very good, but not a Hall of Famer when stacked up against the other people in the packet I was sent. Differentiating between very  good and great is one of the challenges of the assignment.

How much of the fan in you should be edited out when trying to make a life-changing decision? Tough call. As I noted, I don’t have an official vote, so that takes the pressure off. To be selected from amongst this group of nominees a person must appear on 75 percent of the ballots submitted by the 16-member Hall of Fame Golden Era Committee. They can vote for all of them or they can vote for none of them.

An historical overview committee of 11 culled this group of nominees from players and administrators not in the Hall whose careers were focused between 1947 and 1972. It will be fascinating to see which people emerge. The results may be joyful or heartbreaking for the nominees, or in the case of those who have passed away, for their descendants.

(Between now and the election meeting Dec. 5, I will review the credentials of each of the 10 nominees and assess their chances for selection).