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Thanks to a restructuring in the way the National Baseball Hall of Fame selects veterans for enshrinement, the late George Steinbrenner might have a plaque in the Cooperstown shrine next summer.
The Hall’s Board of Directors announced Monday it has done away with the Veterans Committee.
In its place is a voting process that will consider managers, umpires, executives and long-retired players based on three eras.
They are: Pre-Integration (1871-1946), Golden (1947- 1972) and Expansion (1973- 1989 for players; 1973-present for managers, umpires and executives).
The old system was set up for two elections _ one for players and the other for managers, umpires and executives. The two would alternate years.
Former manager White Herzog and former umpire Doug Harvey were inducted Sunday after being elected by the Veterans Committee in December.
Now, it will be a three-year process.
The voting will occur at baseball’s annual Winter Meetings and rotate on a threeyear cycle. The Expansion Era will be voted on this winter; the Golden Era in 2011; and the Pre-Integration Era in 2012. The cycle would return to the Expansion Era in 2013.
Longtime New York Yankees owner Steinbrenner, who died of a heart attack July 13, would be classified in the Expansion Era, thus making him eligible for election in December should he be deemed worthy by the screening committee.
Steinbrenner, 80 at the time of his death, purchased the Yankees in 1973 and oversaw an organization that won seven World Series championships on his watch, including last season. The influential and free-spending owner bankrolled a Yankees roster last season worth about $210 million.
``The procedures to consider the candidacies of managers, umpires, executives and long-retired players have continually evolved since the first Hall of Fame election in 1936,’’ Hall chairman of the board Jane Forbes Clark said in a media release. ``In identifying candidates by era, as opposed to by category, the Board feels this change will allow for an equal review of all eligible candidates, while maintaining the high standards of earning election.’’
A 10-member Historical Overview Committee, appointed by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, will decide on the ballot for each era.
A 16-member committee made up of Hall of Famers, media members and executives will be appointed to vote on each era. A candidate must receive 75 percent of the vote to earn election.
The new system will be somewhat like the one the Hall had in place for managers, umpires and executives where one committee decides the ballot and another votes on the potential Hall of Famers.
``It’s very much the same structure of the managers and umpires ballot,’’ said Brad Horn, the Hall’s director of communications and education. ``It’s very similar to that.’’
Players in the majors for at least 10 seasons who are not banned by Major League Baseball and have been retired for 21 or more seasons, and managers and umpires with 10 or more years in baseball who are retired for at least five years are eligible. Candidates 65 and older are eligible six months following retirement, along with executives retired for at least five years and active executives 65 or older.
The voting committees have not yet been announced. The final ballots will have 12 candidates for the Expansion Era, and 10 each for the Golden and Pre-Integration.
The ballots will be redone each year, Horn said. Therefore, someone who did not make the ballot this December could be among the final 12 in 2013.
``Any worthy candidate has a chance in perpetuity,’’ Horn said. ``Even though it’s fixed for one year, it could change in three years.’’
