Last week, the Hall of Fame announced the new "Golden Era" ballot, which happens every three years or until they change the process. Again.
Golden Era candidates were first considered in the fall of 2011, which resulted in the election of Ron Santo as a member of the Class of 2012.
The 10-person ballot for consideration by this year's Golden Era Committee consists of Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Bob Howsam, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Billy Pierce, Luis Tiant and Maury Wills.
Kaat (10 votes in 2011), Hodges (9 votes), Minoso (9 votes), Oliva (8 votes), Boyer (less than 3 votes) and Tiant (less than three votes) return to the ballot after appearing in the fall in 2011 in the first vote of the Golden Era Committee. Allen, Howsam, Pierce and Wills will be considered by the Golden Era Committee for the first time.
Falling off the last ballot: Buzzie Bavasi, Charlie Finley, and Allie Reynolds. Like Boyer and Tiant, those three -- Bavasi an executive, Finley an owner, Reynolds a pitcher with the dynastic Yankees -- all got fewer than three votes. One might reasonably ask why Boyer and Tiant remain, but the others didn't. We might surmise that the Hall of Fame is less ... patient with non-players, since (let's be honest) there's essentially zero constituency for old-time baseball executives. I'll be surprised if Howsam, whose candidacy I have endorsed in the past, gets even three votes this time. Of course, I've also endorsed Bavasi, and Al Campanis too. Nobody cares about those guys.
Among the players, you've essentially got nine borderline Hall of Famers, none of them as good as Bobby Grich, Ted Simmons, or Alan Trammell. I used to be a big advocate for Miñoso, but I'm not any more. But here's how I would rank the players, if asked to:
1. Miñoso
2. Allen
3. Kaat
4. Tiant
5. Hodges
6. Boyer
7. Pierce
8. Oliva
9. Wills
Of course, all were excellent players for some stretch of time, and all have their passionate supporters. But you know, everybody can't get in. And I would vote for Howsam, and for that matter Bavasi, before any of those players.
