Advertise on podcast: Building the Ballot: The Baseball Hall of Fame’s Era Committees

Today, Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer were elected to the Hall of Fame via the BBWAA Ballot. Dave Metter (@CooperstownDave) joins me to discuss the election results and answer listener questions.

Today we go outside the box. Mark Shirk (@bballhist on Twitter) and Justin McKinney (@Just_Mckinney on Twitter) join me to discuss players who we believe were at or close to a Hall of Fame level, but are not on the Hall of Fame radar (for a variety of reasons. Players discussed: Mark’s List: Charlie Keller Charlie Smith Mike Scioscia Ross Barnes Bobby Avila Buster Clarkson Marvin Williams Buzz Arlett Justin’s List: Jim Creighton Cal McVey Dave Orr Fred Dunlap Fleet Walker Benny Kauff Sadaharu Oh Omar Linares Adam's List Heavy Johnson Dobie Moore Larry Jackson Silvio García Perucho Cepeda Joe Start Wes Ferrell Julio Franco

Tonight, Jim Leyland was announced as the lone inductee to the Hall of Fame from the Contemporary Era Committee’s Non-Player Ballot. Adam and Dave discuss the results of the election and look forward to future elections.

The Hall of Fame released the Contemporary Baseball Era’s Non-Players ballot, so I got on the line with Graham Womack and Dave Metter to discuss the candidates.

Today we welcome David Metter, aka Cooperstown Dave, to the show. David is a Baseball Hall of Fame enthusiast and previously ran the Vlad4HOF Twitter account. He has since pivoted the account (due to Vlad’s successful induction) to a general Hall of Fame account. He has recently been tweeting about non-player candidates and “Rule B” candidates (“Those whose careers entailed involvement in multiple categories”). Non-players are not my expertise, and since the upcoming ballot is all about non-players it seemed like a great reason to get Dave on the show. We discuss the current Hall of Fame landscape for managers, umpires, executives, and pioneers as well as the top candidates for this upcoming ballot. Follow Dave on Twitter at @CooperstownDave.

Today I’m stepping outside of the Hall of Fame echo chamber to chat with an “old school” baseball guy (or maybe he just plays one on Twitter?). Even if we don’t always see eye-to-eye on things like WAR, I always appreciate remembering some underrated players with Not Gaetti (sorry, that’s the only name I’m at liberty to use). We discuss the Contemporary Baseball Era ballot, the BBWAA ballot, hitters (him) and pitchers (me), and a lot more. Not Gaetti on Twitter: https://twitter.com/notgaetti

Today Fred McGriff was selected for Hall of Fame induction by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee. Graham and I discuss the results, what they mean for future elections, and more. Graham Womack on Twitter: https://twitter.com/grahamdude Graham's Website: https://www.sactocontentwriter.com/ Baseball Past and Present: https://baseballpastandpresent.com/

Today the Hall of Fame announced the 2023 Contemporary Baseball Era Players Ballot. It is loaded with complicated candidates (Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Rafael Palmeiro) and “clean” ones (Dale Murphy, Fred McGriff, Don Mattingly). Oh, and Albert Belle. We don’t know how to classify him. To break it all down we are joined by Graham Womack. Graham Womack on Twitter: https://twitter.com/grahamdude Graham's Website: https://www.sactocontentwriter.com/ Baseball Past and Present: https://baseballpastandpresent.com/

The Hall of Fame threw us a curveball and announced some new changes to the Era Committee process, effective immediately. We’re joined again by Graham Womack to discuss the new Contemporary Baseball Era and Classic Baseball Era committees. Graham Womack on Twitter: https://twitter.com/grahamdude Graham's Website: https://www.sactocontentwriter.com/ Baseball Past and Present: https://baseballpastandpresent.com/

After our deep dive into the Early Baseball and Golden Days Eras (including sidebars into Negro League and Latin American Baseball) in Season 1, we finally turn our attention to the 2023 Today’s Game Era Ballot in Season 2. Today we’re joined by Graham Womack to discuss the history of this Committee, who the returning candidates are, and the incredible group of new candidates who are eligible. In all, we cover 50 players and over a dozen non-playing candidates. Graham Womack on Twitter: https://twitter.com/grahamdude Graham's Website: https://www.sactocontentwriter.com/ Baseball Past and Present: https://baseballpastandpresent.com/

There’s one more episode I wanted to do before moving on to the next election cycle. When researching the Negro Leagues, the Pre-Negro Leagues, and Negro League MLEs, something kept coming up—Cuban baseball. It’s hard to talk about the Negro Leagues without including Cuban baseball. Today’s guest, Gary Ashwill of the Seamheads Negro League Database, will share stories about Cuban baseball and some of the major stars who were born in Cuba. We’ll discuss Julián Castillo, Carlos Morán, Regino García, Ramón Bragaña, Lázaro Salazar, José Muñoz, Silvio García, and more. Seamheads Negro League Database: https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/ Gary’s blog Agate Type: https://agatetype.typepad.com/ Julián Castillo: https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=casti01jul Carlos Morán: https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=moran01car Regino García: https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=garci01reg

Mark Armour returns for a chat that focuses on the Golden Days Era—specifically the 1955–1970 National League, which Mark calls “the best league ever.” Stars of the Negro Leagues were integrating the majors, but it was the National League that led the way. This leads to a pretty large disparity of talent between the NL and AL during the first two decades of integration. We look at some players from this era who deserve a longer look because of this. Mark is the President of SABR’s Board of Directors, a Bob Davids Award and Henry Chadwick Award winner, the founder and longtime director of the SABR Bio Project, and an author. Mark’s Website: http://www.mark-armour.net/ Mark Armour on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkArmour04