Joe DiMaggio

Who should be the electors to the baseball hall of fame?

The current electors are those members of the baseball writers association of America who have been members for 10 or more years. I propose that the coaches, managers and owners of the teams against whom the players competed should be the ones to vote.

Public Comments

1. I agree with what you said. I also think they should have other Hall Of Famers and just vet players in general vote.
2. I think 3 groups all should have 33% of the vote. 1.) Writers -- only because they have it now. 2.) Baseball broadcasters -- Vin Scully and all the others are even more involved with baseball than the writers. 3.) Hall of Famers. Do away with the veteran's committee and let the 3 groups vote. This will keep the writers from voting only for baseball players who they are pals of. No one group could vote in their darlings.
3. me-me-me-me and anyone else with an open mind
4. PLAYERS PAST & PRESENT.NOT FANS & SPORTS WRITERS.
5. I disagree. Writers, no matter how much fans may protest otherwise, are the most unbiased, intelligent baseball people who could possibly vote for who gets into the Hall of Fame. They never had to play against or with the candidates, so their opinion of the player isn't altered there. In addition, most of them are responsible for covering many teams, not just the local club. And keep in mind that baseball is what puts food on the table for these guys. They have to know what they're talking about or they'll be out of work. Add all that on top of the fact that the Hall of Fame should be difficult to get into, and you have a good formula. Do I think Jim Rice and Dave Parker should be in the HOF? Of course I do, but it isn't up to me. I never had to follow these guys for my job. They did.
6. The Baseball Writers Association may be an imperfect organization to determine who or who doesn't get elected but it's the most accurate system available. What they need to do is take the voting power away from those writers who have retired from the media and who have not been connected with the game for years. There are a good number of those who still, for whatever reason, have a vote. The Veterans Committee is still a good idea. The only problem is that it should be given to hall of fame members who are still active in baseball. Owners DO NOT belong on any voting committee. Most of these guys are strictly business men and if asked about the inner workings and history of the game who not have the required knowledge to take on such an important task. Bad idea. I really think that the 5 year waiting period for potential hall of fame members in far too long. Perhaps reduce the time to 3 years. I realize it has to do with perspective but you don't need five years to know that players like Ted Williams or Mickey Mantle deserve to be in the hall.
7. Exactly... Because it's not really the Hall of Fame, it's the Writer's Hall of Fame, & I don't put much stock in writer's opinions as it is. Otherwise ranks would be decided by the AP Polls. And we all know how wrong those have been from sport-to-sport from season-to-season. They are swayed by hype. I'm sure Alex Gordon would've been an All-Star last season if we lived by the writer's standards.
8. I believe it should be the ones that are enshrined in there,they should vote the ones to join them,just as the Heisman trophy
9. If you are going to add anyone to the writers (the most non-partisan group you can get). Then maybe add a committee of Hall of Famers, also make the voting a little more transparent, make the people justify their vote and not just wati until the 15th year and then let a guy in on a pity vote! I agree with shortening the time before you are on the ballot, did we really need to wait five years to decide if Cal and Tony were going to Cooperstown? Is Rickey Henderson really going to have to squeak out that invite? I think that former players do have a little more bias though; they remember the guy they played against a couple times in their career, he could have played amazing those times and been average for his career. More film study would have to be involved with former players.
10. I would say coaches, players(past & present). The writers should only write on the players & not vote players in the HOF. If the writers don't like a player no matter how good he is, that hurts the player trying to get into the HOF.
11. The current system has worked well so far with few exceptions (Jim Rice not getting in, Kirby Puckett getting in to name 2). I would leave it the way it is. Players and coaches might be more apt to being biased towards friends and teamates