Following the third consecutive shutout by the Veterans Committee in February, the Hall decided to revamp the VC yet again, since the 2001 respin clearly wasn't doing anything that couldn't be accomplished by having no VC at all (which is, at times, an appealing thought). I knew about this, the Hall rather slipped the only press release under the door during the All-Star hoopla in July (where it got totally ignored), and have a few words to say about it, but the quick version is that the ballots will be smaller, and therefore it is more likely that someone will get elected. Which will be a good thing, as there are a few names deserving the honor.
There are two ballots, results of which will be announced in early December, one for managers and umpires (curious pairing, that) and another for executives. The candidate selection and ballot constitution methodologies also got revised, and we'll get to that soon as well. To conclude, here are the candidates, ten names per ballot (another new wrinkle):
Managers (7) & umpires (3): Whitey Herzog, Davey Johnson, Billy Martin, Gene Mauch, Danny Murtaugh, Billy Southworth, and Dick Williams; Doug Harvey, Hank O'Day, and Cy Rigler.
Executives: Buzzie Bavasi, Barney Dreyfuss, John Fetzer, Bob Howsam, Ewing Kauffman, Bowie Kuhn, John McHale, Marvin Miller, Walter O'Malley, Gabe Paul.
In the next few days I'll review the names that were not included in the February 2007 voting, with very brief recaps of those who were, because I cannot imagine my opinions have changed since then.
The one name that jumps off the page is, of course, longtime MLBPA executive director Marvin Miller, who had greater and longer-lasting impact upon the game than any other off-field personnel in the history of the game.
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