(Story & Photos by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Six former players elected into Baseball Hall of Fame
Nederlands
  ORLANDO, Florida / NEW YORK, New York (USA) -
Six former players have been elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, as the voting results of two committees were announced on Sunday-evening (December 5).
Buck O'Neil and Bud Fowler got the most votes from the Early Baseball Era Committee.
Minnie Miņoso, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva led the voting in the Golden Day Era Committee.
The two Committees got together earlier on Sunday in Orlando (Florida).
In the evening, the results of their voting were announced by Josh Rawitch, who since September 9 is the new President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
The six new members will officially be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 24 next year alongside any players that are selected on January 25.
From the six new members, only Kaat and Oliva are still alive, both are 83.
...The Hall of Fame in Cooperstown...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Since a few years, the Veterans Committee of the Hall of Fame has been split into four different sub-committees, who each consider and vote for candidates from different periods.
The regular (annual) election (by the Base Ball Writers Association of America) takes place in January.
Five years after their retirement, players who have played 10 or more years in the Major League (and pass a screening committee) become eligible.
Any player with 75 percent of the votes is elected into the Hall of Fame.
Players with less than five percent are dropped from the ballot.
Players who get five percent or more (but less than 75) remain eligible for ten years.
Thereafter, these players can be considered by the Veterans Committee.
After the Veterans Committee was restructed several time since 2001, it was split into the current four sub-committees in July 2016.
These four committees are the Early Baseball Era Committee (persons considered from the 1871-1949 period), the Golden Days Era Committee (1950-1969), the Modern Baseball Era Committee (1970-1987) and the Today's Game Era (1988-present).
The Early Baseball Committee makes a selection every ten years, the Golden Days Committee every five years.
The Modern Baseball and Today's Game Committees make selection twice every five years.
Each Committee has 16 members and a ballot consist of ten persons.
Anyone who receives 12 votes (or 75 percent) is elected.
Minnie Miņoso got the most votes with 14 (87,5%) from the Golden Days Era Committee.
He was followed by Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva, who all got 12 votes (75%).
Dick Allen, who passed away in December last year, ended up one vote short of being elected.
Negro League-legend Buck O'Neil got the most votes from the Early Baseball Era Committee with 13 (81.3%).
Bud Fowler got 12 (75%).
Others on the Golden Days-ballot were players Ken Boyer, Roger Maris, Billy Pierce and Maury Wills and Manager Danny Murtaugh.
Also considered by the Early Baseball Committee were Bill Dahlen, John Donaldson, Vic Harris, Grant 'Home Run' Johnson, Lefty O'Doul, Dick 'Cannonball' Redding, Allie Reynolds and George 'Tubby' Scales.
Cuban-born Minnie Miņoso played in fives different decades in the Major League, including five different stints with Chicago White Sox.
The oufielder initially played for Cleveland Indians (1949, 1951), then for White Sox (1951-1957), again for Cleveland (1958-1959) and then again for the White Sox (1960-1961).
Hereafter, Miņoso played for St. Louis Cardinals (1962) and for Washington Senators (1963).
Next, he played in three different decades for Chicago White Sox (1964, 1976, 1980).
Before making his debut in the Major League, Miņoso played for New York Cubans (1947-1949) in the Negro League with whom he won the Champion Series in 1947.
Miņoso played in nine All Star Games and won three Gold Glove Awards.
Miņoso, who played in 1,835 games in 17 seasons, passed away in 2015.
...Minnie Miņoso in 1994 in Phoenix, Arizona (USA)...
...with Grand Slam-webmaster Marco Stoovelaar...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Buck O'Neil is a legend from the Negro Leagues, playing for Memphis Red Sox (1937) and Kansas City Monarchs (1938-1943, 1946-1955), where he became a star-player.
In 1944-1945, O'Neil served in the US Navy during World War II.
With the Monarchs, O'Neil was a teammate of another legend, picher Satchel Paige.
In 1948-1955, O'Neil was the Manager of the Kansas City-team, then became a scout for Major League-club Chicago Cubs.
O'Neil never played in the Major League, but the first baseman became the first African American coach in the Majors in 1962 with Chicago Cubs.
Later, he also served as scout for Kansas City Royals.
O'Neil played an important role in the creation of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City in 1990.
Until his death in 2006, O'Neil was the Honorary Board Chairman of the Museum.
Bud Fowler is often acknowledged as the first Black professional player.
He played in the Negro League for Page Fence Giants and Cuban Giants in 1895-1898.
It is known that before that, Fowler played for an all-white professional team in 1872 at age 14.
Fowler, who passed away in 1913, played all positions.
He grew up and played baseball in Cooperstown, which now is the site of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Gil Hodges played in 18 Major League-seasons (2,071 games) for Brooklyn/Los Angelers Dodgers (1943, 1947-1961) and New York Mets (1962-1963) as first baseman.
Hodges, who passed away in 1972, played in eight All Star Games, won the World Series in 1955 and 1959 and earned three Gold Glove Awards.
Thereafter, he became a successful Manager, leading Washington Senators (1963-1967) and New York Mets (1968-1971), with whom he won the World Series in 1969.
On August 31, 1950, Hodges became the sixth player in history (since 1894) to hit four homeruns in one game, which he did playing for Brooklyn Dodgers in a 19-3 win against Boston Braves.
Only 18 players have accomplished this feat.
Lefthanded pitcher Jim Kaat played in 25 seasons in the big league.
He pitched for Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins (1959-1973), Chicago White Sox (1973-1975), Philadelphia Phillies (1976-1979), New York Yankees (1979-1980) and St. Louis Cardinals (1980-1983).
Kaat won the World Series with St. Louis in 1982, played in three All Star Games and won 16 Gold Glove Awards.
In his long career, the lefthander won 283 games and struckout 2,461 batters.
After he had retired, Kaat began a long career in broadcasting in 1986 and is still active as a commentator for MLB Network.
In 1970-1973, Kaat was a teammate of Bert Blyleven, who was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2011.
Blyleven was born in the Netherlands, while Kaat's family originally also came from the Netherlands.
Kaat was born in the city of Zeeland (which was a small Dutch community) in Michigan.
Tony Oliva, like Miņoso born on Cuba, played his entire 15-year Major League-career for Minnesota Twins (1962-1976) and with that, he has been a teammate of both Kaat and Blyleven.
In his career, the rightfielder played in 1,676 games, was the American League Rookie of the Year (1964), played in eight All Star Games and won one Gold Glove Award.
He was the Best Hitter in the American League three times.
After he retired, Oliva was a member of the Twins coaching-staff in 1976-1978, then again in 1985-1991.
As a coach, Oliva won the World Series in 1987 and 1991.
(December 5)
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