Deck the Halls: Legends Get Second Chance at Cooperstown

Tyler Martineau
December 5, 2021
8:00 PM

What is commonly referred to as the most wonderful time of the year doesn’t seem too wonderful with MLB in a lockout. However, there is still a group of players who have not been erased from MLB.com and have a chance to be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Golden Days Era Committee and Early Baseball Era Committee will vote on 10 players and coaches each for the honor of being immortalized in Cooperstown.

This is a chance for several stars of the game who were previously snubbed by the voters or went generally unrecognized such as seven players from the Negro and pre-Negro Leagues. It serves as a great preview to the regular voting in January with several players from the steroid era on their last chances to get in. For now, lets take a look at some of the legends from the past who could get 75% of December 5th.

Roger Maris

Even Though RF Roger Maris never got more than 45% of the hall of fame votes in his 15 years on the ballot, he has still been an integral part of baseball history. Most fans know of Maris’s heroic feats of not only beating RF Babe Ruth’s single season home run record (a record which still stands in the AL) but also doing it in the shadows of his larger-than-life teammate CF Mickey Mantle. Along with the record Maris won his second MVP award in a row with the Yankees. Maris spent seven of his 12 big-league seasons in New York while also playing with the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Athletics, and ending his career with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The career numbers may have been what derailed Maris’s chances with only 1325 hits and 850 RBI to go along with a .260 batting average. After all, he is in the Golden Era category so the competition he faced speaks for itself. For example, Mantle, SP Whitey Ford, 3B Eddie Matthews, SS Ernie Banks, and CF Willie Mays were just a few in a long line of players who made it in over Maris. However, with a smaller pool to pick from Maris could get the recognition he deserved for his impact not only on one of the most storied franchises in all of sports but on the game of baseball as well.

Jim Kaat

SP Jim Kaat’s career has always been fascinating to me because he pitched in four decades. Sure he went 0-2 in three games during the 1959 season, but it is still impressive he continued to pitch all the way to 1983. Kaat spent more than half of his career with the Minnesota Twins before the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Cardinals, and Yankees. Kaat had a few seasons with over 35 starts and didn’t break 1,000 appearances in his 25-year career. The three-time all-star’s best year on the ballot was 1993 when he received 29.3% of the votes.

There may not be a lot that stands out numbers wise for Kaat but his longevity in the sport should carry some weight. I’m not sure if Kaat will receive 75% of the votes from the committee, but I do think players who are able to have long careers like his or SP Bartolo Colon and SP Jamie Moyer should receive more recognition from the baseball world.

John Donaldson

More and more research comes out each year about the expansive history from the Negro Leagues especially since the Baseball Hall of Fame announced it would recognize Negro League statistics in the record books. SP John Donaldson is one of the historic legends of the game who may be getting the recognition he deserves more the 100 years after he started playing baseball.

While much of Donaldson’s career is still unconfirmed it is believed that he may have played for 42 seasons which makes Kaat’s career look like a brief stint in the league. According to Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Donaldson had over 400 verifiable wins and over 5,000 strikeouts. Donaldson also had 14 no-hitters and two perfect games. These are all numbers which would make any player an instant Hall of Famer. But just like many other players from the early days of the Negro Leagues, it has been very difficult for researchers to keep an accurate record of his illustrious career. With that said, I believe we have a better understanding of who Donaldson was and his impact on the game on and off the field.

Buck O’Neil

1B Buck O’Neil may be one of the best examples of a player who missed his chance at the hall of fame initially but deserves to be voted in by the Early Era Committee. O’Neil spent 10 of his seasons in the Negro Leagues with the legendary Kansas City Monarchs. As a player, he was a two-time batting champion and ended his career with a .283 batting average. As a manager, he led the Monarchs to four league titles.

O’Neil also made history in MLB by becoming the first ever black coach with the Chicago Cubs. It is common knowledge to most people on who the first black player in MLB history was but O’Neil’s feat tends to go by the wayside especially since it happened when the league was much more integrated. O’Neil is most often know as one of the biggest ambassadors of baseball in the sports history and even helped found the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. O’Neil’s impact on the sport in every position he held demonstrates why he should be in Cooperstown.

It’s hard to predict who might have the best shot at getting into the Hall of Fame because the candidates have very unique careers and circumstances. While being on the ballot may not solidify their chances to get a plaque in Cooperstown, even being acknowledged by the committees show there is a case to put them in. These candidates go beyond the standards requirements for the regular ballot as their impact on the game deserves to be examined further.

Here are the rest of the candidates for each ballot. Let us know who you think should be in the Hall of Fame.