New HOF Rules

BY KEVIN KERNAN

Two strikes and you’re HOF OUT.

The rules can change in baseball.

At least that is what it looks like at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum up in lovely Cooperstown. The Hall of Fame came out with New Rules on Wednesday regarding their Era Committee system – and it was not good news for some players hoping to get into the Hall of Fame after being passed over by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Here is what the Hall said in their own words in an email I received on Wednesday at 3:44 pm.

In addition, the Board announced two adjustments to the Era Committee system, which provides an avenue for Hall of Fame consideration to managers, umpires and executives, as well as players retired for more than 15 seasons. It clarified that members of the Historical Overview Committee, the body that develops ballots for Hall of Fame consideration by the Era Committee, who are appointed by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will also be approved by the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors. The Board also adjusted eligibility for candidates via the Era Committee system.

“The Board met for a very productive session last week to review many of our ongoing initiatives,” said Jane Forbes Clark, Chairman of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “We are excited to be enhancing the retail experience for our Museum visitors and about sustaining the level of excellence that accompanies AAM accreditation. The Era Committee eligibility adjustments are the outcome of years-long discussions centered on ensuring that more candidates have the chance to be reviewed as part of this process.’’

Beginning with the Contemporary Baseball Era ballot for players, which will be reviewed in December 2025, any candidate who appears on a ballot and does not receive votes from at least five of the 16 voters will not be eligible to be placed on the ballot within its next three-year cycle. Any such candidates would remain eligible to return to an Era Committee ballot in the following election cycle.

Additionally, beginning in 2025, any candidate that does not receive at least five of 16 votes in multiple appearances on Era Committee ballots will not be eligible for future ballot consideration.

Candidates who receive at least five of 16 votes will remain eligible for the following cycle of Era Committee consideration but will not necessarily be placed on the subsequent ballot. The makeup of the ballot is reconstructed each year based on all eligible candidates by the Historical Overview Committee. Members of the Historical Overview Committee are appointed by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and approved by the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors.

The Era Committee process is divided into three groups, rotating on an annual basis, with each ballot consisting of eight candidates. The three groups cover two timeframes: the Contemporary Baseball Era, consisting of the period from 1980 to present day, and the Classic Baseball Era, consisting of the period prior to 1980. The Contemporary Baseball Era is split into two separate ballots – one ballot to consider only players who made their greatest impact on the game since 1980, and another composite ballot consisting of managers, executives and umpires whose greatest contributions to the game have come since 1980. Ballots are considered each December at the Baseball Winter Meetings.

Upcoming Era Committee election cycles feature the Contemporary Baseball Era players ballot in the fall of 2025, the Contemporary Baseball Era managers, executives and umpires ballot in the fall of 2026 and the Classic Baseball Era in the fall of 2027. The three-year cycle then repeats.

There you have it in black and white.

Sure, you can go see Bud Selig’s Hall of Fame plaque when you visit Cooperstown but there will be no plaques for baseball’s all-time home run leader in Bonds…

Essentially, this announcement means players will not be on the Era Committee ballots in perpetuity. As my longtime BBWAA friend Bob Nightengale noted, “Candidates must receive at least five of the 16 votes to be eligible again in three years. If not they must wait at least six years for consideration. For those who don’t receive at least five votes in multiple appearances on the ballot, they will be ineligible for future consideration.’’

That’s it, in the future, starting with December 2025, if you get those two committee strikes against you, you are finished, there will be no Era Committee reprieve. And as Nightengale noted, “If Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, etc don’t get at least five votes of the 16 votes in December, they’re not guaranteed to be on future ballots.’’

If you remember, Bonds and Clemens each received fewer than five votes in December of 2022 when Fred McGriff (a great choice, by the way) was a unanimous pick. Congratulations, Crime Dog. This past December Dave Parker and Dick Allen were elected. The previous December manager Jim Leyland was selected, and all of those, in my book, were great choices.

If Bonds and Clemens, next time around, happen to get fewer than five votes, that’s bad news for them. That will be one big strike. A second strike, at least three years down the road and they have no hope of gaining entry into the Hall of Fame, they will be barred from future era ballot appearances.

The Hall of Fame door is shut in their face. Such is life.

Sure, you can go see Bud Selig’s Hall of Fame plaque when you visit Cooperstown but there will be no plaques for baseball’s all-time home run leader in Bonds, who hit 762 home runs, none for Clemens, who is third all-time in strikeouts with 4,672. Henry Aaron is next behind Bonds with 755 home runs, followed by a guy named Babe Ruth with 714. Alex Rodriguez, by the way, is fifth at 696. Nolan Ryan is tops in Ks with 5,714 with Randy Johnson No. 2 at 4,875.

This change is a way of limiting future appearances on veteran committees’ ballots and it is a similar move to when the Hall announced that players would no longer be on the writers’ ballot for 15 years but for only 10 years, a move made years ago.

It certainly moves the ballot along. Whether you like it or not, these are the new rules and it makes it harder for steroid-tainted stars to get into the Hall of Fame.

In the last years that Bonds and Clemens were on the writers’ ballot, I consistently voted for them, just as in this past ballot in December I voted for both A-Rod and Manny Ramirez.

Through the years I decided it was not my job to police baseball, I had no subpoena power, so to speak, I was just a longtime baseball writer, who watched games closely and spoke to all the players, coaches and managers; and once Bud Selig got into the Hall of Fame, who oversaw baseball as the commissioner during the steroid era, and once managers got into the Hall of Fame even though some of the players they managed were tainted by steroids, players who helped them win, I got off the steroid wall. It was not my job to protect baseball from itself.

I am strictly numbers based when it comes to Hall of Fame voting. If you have the numbers, in my book, you get into the Hall of Fame. This week my friend George Willis wrote a column on the current Pete Rose situation, soliciting the opinions of various writers on whether they believe Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame considering the latest comments from President Donald Trump, and I kept it simple when George asked me for my thoughts. I said, “Yes. 4,256 hits.’’

It was that simple for me, Pete Rose has the most hits in baseball history.

Pete Rose gambled on baseball as a manager and paid a heavy price for doing so. He spent the rest of his life trying to get into the Hall of Fame. It never worked out. I don’t feel sorry for Pete, he made his bed and had to sleep in it.

I do feel sorry for players like Luis Tiant and Thurman Munson, players I believe are Hall of Famers. In December, Tiant, who passed away on October 8 at the age of 83, was among the candidates who received less than five votes. Tiant was 229-172 with a 3.30 ERA over a career that stretched from 1964-82. He shutout the mighty Big Red Machine in Game 4 of the 1975 World Series, against a lineup that included superstars Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez and Pete Rose. He came back to pitch eight innings in Game 6. Tiant had 187 complete games and 47 shutouts, numbers we will never see again from starting pitchers.

As for Munson, he was a personal favorite who produced a decade of excellence from 1970-79. He died in a crash of a plane he was piloting on August 2, 1979, one of the darkest days in Yankee history. In those 10 years he finished with a .292 average while Hall of Fame catchers Carlton Fisk hit .284 and Johnny Bench batted .267 during the 1970s. Munson changed the Yankees culture in 1970 winning Rookie of the Year honors and in 1976 was AL MVP. Munson is one of three catchers in history with three consecutive seasons with a .300 batting average and 100-plus RBIs.

The other two are in the Hall, Bill Dickey and Mike Piazza.