[Archive]

Posted By: Kenny Cole

As I understant the "revamped" rules for election, 19th Century ballplayers are lumped in with the rest of the eligible veterans for consideration by the new Veteran's Committee. That committee now consists of all living members of the Hall of Fame, the Spink and Frick Award recipients, and all the members of the old Veteran's Committee whose terms haven't expired. What that is probably going to mean is that there won't be another 19th Century ballplayer elected in the foreseeable future.

The way I see it, there are now a whole lot of people on the new Committee who have friends they played with or against (or covered/wrote about). I think its almost a given that they will want to see their buddies get elected to the Hall first. Fair or not, I don't think the committee members are going to be too concerned about electing guys who played 100 years ago. While I would like to see Ryan, Mullane, Stovey, Van Haltren, Dahlen, etc. get in, I just don't think its going to happen. They will once again be put on the back burner.