For First Time In 15 Years, Baseball Hall To Nominate, Induct Negro League Candidates
Friday, October 22, 2021 at 06:57PM By Barry Janoff
UPDATED December 5, 2021: Elected by the Early Baseball Era Committee (pre-1950): Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil.
Elected by the Golden Days Era Committee (1950-69): Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso and Tony Oliva.
UPDATED December 3, 2021: On Dec. 5, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Early Baseball Era Committee (pre-1950) and Golden Days Era Committee (1950-69) are meeting to vote on respective ten-player ballots, with the results unveiled live on MLB Network (6 PM ET).
Nine former big league players and one manager comprise the ten-name Golden Days Era Committee ballot, which features candidates whose primary contribution to the game was between 1950-69.
They include players Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Roger Maris, Minnie Miñoso,Tony Oliva, Billy Pierce and Maury Wills and manager Danny Murtaugh.
Seven Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues legends and three American League/National League stars comprise the ten-name Early Baseball Era ballot, which features candidates whose primary contribution to the game came prior to 1950.
They include Bill Dahlen, John Donaldson, Bud Fowler, Vic Harris, Grant “Home Run” Johnson, Lefty O’Doul, Buck O’Neil, Dick “Cannonball” Redding, Allie Reynolds and George “Tubby” Scales.
The last time players from the Negro Leagues were inducted into the Hall of Fame was 2006.
Any candidates elected will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 24, 2022, along with any electees who emerge from the 2022 Baseball Writers’ Association of America election, which will be unveiled Jan. 25, 2022, exclusively on MLB Network.
October 22, 2021: Leroy "Stachel" Paige, Josh Gibson and John "Buck" O’Neil will soon have more company in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Following MLB’s decision in December 2020 to include player statistics from the Negro Leagues as part of MLB’s official stats, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum said Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues candidates would be eligible for Hall of Fame consideration for the first time in 15 years.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame said its Board of Directors has convened a Special Early Baseball Overview Committee of ten historians to develop a ten-person ballot that includes Negro Leaguers, pre-Negro Leaguers and non-Negro Leaguers as eligible candidates.
In 1971, Paige became the first player whose primary pro baseball career was in the Negro Leagues to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The last time players from the Negro Leagues were inducted into the Hall of Fame was 2006.
That year, a Special Committee on Negro Leagues inducted 17 Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues candidates to become part of the Hall’s roster.
That brought the total number of primary Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues legends enshrined in the Hall of Fame to 35, at which it has remained.
Players in the Hall of Fame based on their career in the Negro Leagues also include James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell, Oscar Charleston, Martín Dihigo, Rube Foster, Monte Irvin, Judy Johnson, Buck Leonard, Pop Lloyd, and “Bullet” Joe Rogan.
“In light of Major League Baseball’s decision last December to recognize a number of Negro Leagues as major leagues, it is important that those who were barred from participating in the American and National Leagues be evaluated again for potential Hall of Fame election,” Jane Forbes Clark, chairman for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, said via the organization.
“The Early Baseball Era Committee ballot will be open to all who made their greatest impact on the game prior to 1950, including both Negro Leaguers and non-Negro Leaguers alike.”
The Special Early Baseball Overview Committee consists of five Negro Leagues historians and five veteran members of the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America who have previously served on the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Historical Overview Committee.
Bud Selig, MLB commissioner emeritus, and a member of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2017, will serve as the non-voting chairman the committee.
The Early Baseball Era Committee and Hall of Fame’s board of directors are scheduled to meet Dec. 5, with the results of the vote unveiled that evening live on MLB Network.
The Negro Leagues existed from 1920 through 1948.
The seven leagues were the Negro National League (I) (1920-31), Eastern Colored League (1923-28), American Negro League (1929), East-West League (1932), Negro Southern League (1932), Negro National League (II) (1933-48) and the Negro American League (1937-48).
MLB’s decision to grant Major League status to the seven professional Negro Leagues meant some 3,400 players who participated in the Negro Leagues during that time period are “officially considered Major Leaguers, with their stats and records becoming a part of Major League history.”
"It is important that those who were barred from participating in the American and National Leagues be evaluated again for potential Hall of Fame election."
“All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game’s best players, innovations and triumphs against a backdrop of injustice,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said via the league at the time.
“We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as Major Leaguers within the official historical record.”
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, located in Kansas City, Mo., is a “privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its profound impact on the social advancement of America.”
In 2020, there was a year-long celebration under the auspices of MLB, the MLB Players Assn. and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro Leagues.
MLB Adding Negro League Stats To Official Records
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