The Baseball Expansion Era Committee (1973-Present) has announced their nominees for the 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame. This year's committee includes Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Carlton Fisk, Whitey Herzog, Tom Lasorda, Paul Molitor, Joe Morgan, Phil Niekro and Frank Robinson; Toronto Blue Jays President Paul Beeston; retired club executive Andy MacPhail; Philadelphia Phillies President Dave Montgomery; Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf; Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau; Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle; Baseball Writers' Association of American Secretary-Treasurer Jack O'Connell; and retired Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Jim Reeves.
The Ballot includes:
Dave Concepcion
Bobby Cox
Steve Garvey
Tommy John
Tony LaRussa
Billy Martin
Marvin Miller
Dave Parker
Dan Quisenberry
Ted Simmons
George Steinbrenner
Joe Torre
This is a fascinating group that should likely yield an induction or more. Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre have done enough as a Manager to generate induction. In the case of Torre, he was on the ballot for the full fifteen years as a player. There has always been hot debate on Steve Garvey, who is a former MVP, but whose overall statistics have not been looked as kind in the case of modern sabremetrics. Ted Simmons is on the other end of the spectrum, as he was not considered a Hall of Fame player during his time, but has received a lot of support lately.
We are very curious to see the support of Tommy John and Dave Parker, two other players of which much has been written about.
It should be noted that Vida Blue, Ron Guidry, Al Oliver and Rusty Staub were on the 2010 Ballot, though failed to return. In the last Veterans Committee Ballot for this era, only Pat Gillick was selected.
Comments powered by CComment