Baseball Hall of Fame names ten Today’s Game finalists
By Ted Fleming
George Steinbrenner, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson and Mark McGwire head list of ten candidates for induction in 2017 by Today’s Game Era Committee.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame announced today that three former big league players, three executives and two managers comprise the ten-name Today’s Game Era ballot that will be voted upon in December at the Baseball Winter Meetings in National Harbor, MD. The Today’s Game Era Committee will meet twice in a five-year period, with the next meeting scheduled for the fall of 2018.
In this year’s election, nominees must receive 75 percent of the ballots cast by the panel to earn election into the Hall. The induction celebration will take place on July 30, 2017.
The candidates are Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Mark McGwire, Lou Piniella, John Schuerholz, Bud Selig and George Steinbrenner. Baines, Belle, Clark, Hershiser and McGwire are included for the contributions as players.
Schuerholz, Selig and Steinbrenner are included for their contributions off the field, and Johnson and Piniella are included for their work as managers. All candidates except for Steinbrenner are living.
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The Today’s Game Era ballot was determined this fall by the Historical Overview Committee, comprised of 11 veteran historians: Bob Elliott (Toronto Sun); Jim Henneman (formerly Baltimore Sun); Rick Hummel (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); Steve Hirdt (Elias Sports Bureau); Bill Madden (formerly New York Daily News); Jack O’Connell (BBWAA); Jim Reeves (formerly Fort Worth Star-Telegram); Tracy Ringolsby (MLB.com); Glenn Schwarz (formerly San Francisco Chronicle); Dave van Dyck (Chicago Tribune); and Mark Whicker (Los Angeles News Group).
The Today’s Game Era Committee is one of four different eras’ committees that were announced by the Board of Directors to change the current system.
The four eras committees are: Today’s Game (for candidates who made their most indelible contribution to baseball from 1988 to the present); Modern Baseball (for candidates who made their most indelible contribution to baseball from 1970 to 1987); Golden Days (for candidates who made their most indelible contribution to baseball from 1950 to 1969); and Early Baseball (for candidates who made their most indelible contribution to baseball prior to 1950).