The Veterans Committee Nominees

The Hall of Fame has announced the candidates for the Veterans Committee’s “Pre-1943 election.” Here is part of the press release.

( COOPERSTOWN , NY ) — Ten former major league players, whose careers began in 1942 or earlier, will be considered for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 by the Veterans Committee, with results of a December 7 vote to be announced December 8 at baseball’s Winter Meetings, it was announced today.

The Historical Overview Committee of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America selected the 10 finalists from a list of all eligible players, those whose careers spanned at least 10 Major League seasons and started in 1942 or earlier. The 10 finalists will be considered for election to the Hall of Fame by a 12-member voting committee, comprised of Hall of Famers, historians and media members.

Any candidate receiving 75% of the vote from the 12-member committee will earn election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and will be inducted as part of the 2009 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, to be held Sunday, July 26, in Cooperstown .

The 10 former players whose careers began in 1942 or earlier are: Bill Dahlen, Wes Ferrell, Joe Gordon, Sherry Magee, Carl Mays, Allie Reynolds, Vern Stephens, Mickey Vernon, Bucky Walters and Deacon White.

In this group , Sherry Magee, Bill Dahlenand Carl Maysall have obvious Hall of Fame numbers according to the NEWS HOF gauge and deserve to be elected.

The Position Players

At last, the Veterans Committee may be ready to put a few of the older deserving players into the Hall.

Among the 20 ^th century position players who have obvious HOF numbers, Sherry Magee and Bill Dahlen stand out. Both deserve to be inducted.They are the two highest ranking players in the NEWS system who began their careers before 1943 and are not in the Hall (other than Joe Jackson).And they (with Jackson ) are the ONLY POSITION PLAYERS in this period with obvious HOF numbers who are not in the Hall.

Look at these numbers. The first number is career win shares, the second is the sum of win shares for the ten best seasons and the third is their NEWS score (career score).The number before the player’s name is his rank compared to all position players of the 20 ^th century.

Wheat, Davis , Cronin and Heilmann are all in the Hall of Fame and deserve to be. And Jackson is not eligible.It would be great if Magee and Dahlen could join them.

Unfortunately, Vern Stephans, Mickey Vernon and Joe Gordon do not have HOF numbers. I just hope that they do not distract the voters from Magee and Dahlen.

The Pitchers

What about the pitchers? Carl Maysis easily the best of this group – with Wes Ferrelland Bucky Waltersnot far behind.

But the creators of the list have missed a few good pitchers – namely, Wilbur Cooper, Jack Powell and George Mullin. Look at these numbers. The first number is career win shares, the second is the sum of win shares for the ten best seasons and the third is their NEWS score (career score).The number before the player’s name is his rank compared to all starting pitchers of the 20 ^th century.

All four of these pitchers have obvious HOF numbers according to the NEWS system – the cutoff for starting pitchers being 232.

So, where are Ferrell and Walters? Here they are with some other pitchers whose scores are close to theirs.

Of course, Bunning, Drysdale, Faber, Ryan and Lemon are all in the Hall of Fame.

And where is Allie Reynolds? Unfortunately, he is not even in the ballpark.

For more information on the NEWS HOF Gauge, see BASEBALL’S BEST: The TRUE Hall of Famers on this site.