Hall Of Fame changes for the better

In the wake of Bill Mazeroski's tearful acceptance speech into baseball's Hall of Fame, the Hall's Board of Directors announced major changes in the way former players can be elected. Once again, intelligence rears its unpopular head in the world of sports.

The current system for election is comprised mainly of baseball writers. Electors can only be members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who have been active for at least 10 years. The BBWAA then elects a six-member screening committee to prepare an alphabetical list of all players who are either eligible for the first time and nominated by any two screening committee members or have received at least five percent of the votes in the previous election.

The next step is to have the electors vote for worthy candidates from the screening committee's list. Players must receive 75 percent of the votes to be elected. He also must receive at least five percent to be eligible for future elections.

If a player is not elected, he still has hope. The Veteran's Committee, established in 1953, is made up of five Hall of Fame members, five former members of the media, and five others who are connected to baseball but don't fit in the other two categories. The committee's power is limited, however, as only one player can be elected through this method.

The new system will make things a bit fairer. It will disband the Veteran's Committee, in favor of a new committee. This would be made up of all living members of the Hall of Fame, currently at 61, and also winners of the J.G. Spink Award for writers and the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters. There are currently 13 members in each category. Finally, the committee will also include the three members of the Veteran's Committee whose terms have not yet expired.

Beginning in 2003, the voting for players will take place twice each year. The voting for umpires aand managers will now take place every four years. Currently, the voting occurs annually. Seventy-five percent is still needed for election, but the 5 percent minimum has been removed, thereby making all former players eligible again.

The baseball writers will now serve as a screening committee. Sixty will name 25 players and 15 others who are eligible for election. The Hall Of Fame Board of Directors will also name six Hall of Famers to come up with five candidates, in an effort to avoid errors by those in the media.

These measures can only improve the integrity of the Hall of Fame. Now the members will be chosen the way they should be - by the ones who actually went out there everyday and put themselves on the line. Nothing personal against the writers, but I always thought it was a bit unfair that those who never had any actual experience playing the game were allowed to anoint immortality.

Oversights have happened in the past. Take Bill Mazeroski for example. Maz, as friends call him, hit probably the biggest home run of the century in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Yet he was denied election when he was eligible and had to wait 29 years for the Veteran's Committee to give him what was rightfully his in the first place. There have been countless others who had memorable careers the writer's didn't deem fit for enshrinement.

Hall Of Fame honors are sometimes wrongfully interpreted as belonging solely to those that had superstar careers, not simply moments. While there may be some validity to that, you cannot and should not ignore those moments that make the game more than what it is.

The Hall has a rule against automatic elections that needs to be removed. Moments like Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series, Maz's Home Run, Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round The World", and Joe Carter's Home Run to end the 1993 World Series for Toronto - these are memories that make sports larger than life - even spiritual for some. The contributions of these to the magic and attraction of the game are immeasurable and the contributors should be recognized. Not for the day, week, month, or even year after they happened - but for all future generations to recognize.