HOF Vote Fraud

Voting results by the Hall of Fame’s Golden Era Committee were released yesterday.  None of the ten candidates received the necessary twelve votes necessary for election to the Hall.

According to HOF chair Jane Forbes Clark, “It’s tough on players.  Only one percent of the 18,000 players who have played in the Major Leagues is in the Hall of Fame.  The process is meant to be tough on players.”  Really?  Then explain how Rabbit Maranville got in with his .258 career batting average or Ray Schalk with his 1345 hits and .253 average. 

The two rejected players I care about are White Sox stars Billy Pierce and Minnie Minoso.  Pierce and Whitey Ford were contemporaries.  Ford managed 236 regular season wins playing for the best organization in baseball; Pierce totaled 211 (all but 25 with the Sox).  One Hall of Famer had Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra among too many others to back him up.  Billy Pierce had the likes of Walt Dropo and Bubba Phillips.  Rule of thumb for Golden Era Committee members to use next time—if the candidate won those games despite, not because, of the players behind him, he should be in the Hall of Fame.

Yes, Pierce did have HOFers Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox, which is to say he got help in the field and possibly won the most games ever courtesy of the stolen base and/or hit and run.  Pierce also had Minnie Minoso, the other rejected Sox candidate.  Depending which date you believe, Minoso either broke into the big leagues at the age of 25 or 28.

Go with the first, in which case Minoso played until he was 38; otherwise, until he was 41.  (Forget about the ten at-bats in 1976 and 1980.  That was a stunt by Sox owner Bill Veeck that turned Minoso into a latter-day Eddie Gaedel.)  Now consider that Minoso amassed 1963 hits, 1136 runs and 1023 rbi’s to go with a .298 batting average.  Also consider that, as a Negro Leaguer, Minoso did not reach the majors until far later than he should have.

But worry not, baseball fans.  Billy Pierce, age 87, and Minnie Minoso, age 89 or 92, should be eligible when the Golden Era Committee votes again in 2017.  What’s three years?