Earlier this week, I reviewed the Veterans Committee ballot ahead of their upcoming December 7th announcement. Part 1 (which can be read here) covered the cases of Gary Sheffield, Carlos Delgado, Fernando Valenzuela, and most-likely inductee Jeff Kent; Part 2 (which can be read here) covered the new rules shenanigans that are likely to impact the candidacies of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, and Dale Murphy. Check both of those out if you haven’t already, I think I did a pretty good job on them!
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And now, we finally have the final piece of the puzzle: earlier this week, the Hall of Fame officially announced the sixteen people who will be serving as voters for the vote this weekend. If you haven’t been following the most recent iteration of Veterans Committee elections as closely, this has kind of become a big deal over the last few years. The VC has always been unique in that they meet to discuss votes in person, and these conversations can have a notable impact on the final results as members try to strategize or campaign for certain candidates. Of particular note was the 2019 election, where Harold Baines​swung a surprise induction while going in front of an especially-favorable set of voters.
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Nothing since has been quite that shocking, but looking at the committee can sometimes give you clues to what’s on the horizon. For example, last year’s sixteen panelists tilted me towards predicting Dave Parker would make it in, which did indeed happen. It’s not a guarantee to have an effect (I thought last year’s panelists might be sympathetic to Luis Tiant too, which did not occur in the slightest), but it’s always worth taking a look. This year’s set of voters is:
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​Hall of Fame Players: Fergie Jenkins, Jim Kaat, Juan Marichal, Tony Perez, Ozzie Smith, Alan Trammell, and Robin Yount​
​Executives: Owners Mark Attanasio and Arte Moreno, plus General Managers Doug Melvin, Kim Ng, Tony Reagins, and Terry Ryan
​Writers: Jayson Stark and Tyler Kepner of The Athletic, plus historian Steve Hirdt
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I don’t know that there’s one overriding theme this time, in the way that there was with the Baines ballot. However, that has been kind of the norm since then; I think the Hall realized that it was a bad look (even if probably unintentional), and has been going out of its way to avoid a repeat. But there are smaller trends that can play a part, and sometimes add up. Going through my thoughts on those, roughly in order that they occurred to me:
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