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Posted By: Kenny Cole

I think baseball and Cooperstown both have to be worried when no one is elected to the HOF. Like Hal said, elections = money, whereas no elections = no money. That is why I suspect the current Veteran's Committee is likely to be revamped again in a few years. The fact that it has made precisely zero selections since being reconstituted can't make those who depend on selections to bring in the bucks very happy.

That being said, IMO, there are a number of NL HOF candidates who are at least deserving of a long look. Arguably, the same can't be said for the vets.

The primary reason they took the NL selections from the Veteran's Committee and set up a special committee was because the Veteran's Committee was completely clueless about the Negro Leagues -- even more clueless than they were about the major league veterans they were supposed to be considering (I'm talking about the old veteran's committee, not the new one, although I think the new one is nearly as clueless). The special NL committee was also contemplated when they changed the composition of the Veteran's Committee. The primary reason it didn't begin to work right away was because its members were busy trying to accumulate NL statistical data in order to make more informed choices. With their new statistical data, I am hopeful that the committee won't screw it up.

There will always be arguments about who should be in, who should be out, and who has "watered down" the HOF. Those are the types of arguments that probably can't be settled except by personal opinions about how or where the cut-off for induction should be formulated. I don't see a huge problem with setting up a committee tasked with selecting deserving NLers because their situation is, in many respects, unique. Nor do I think that the formulation of a special NL Committee is necessarily going to result in the formulation of more special committees. I also think that in most years, there will be a recently retired/HOF eligible player for the electors to pick. That should generally suffice.

Kenny Cole