Rap Dixon 
Newt Allen
CI Taylor 
Bill Byrd
Two weeks ago the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Pre-integration Committee voted on
ten candidates for induction next summer.
None of the ten were from the Negro League baseball era. No one from that era has been selected for
induction into the hallowed halls of the museum in Cooperstown, New York since
2006. The 17 inducted that year are
profiled in my book Last Train to
Cooperstown. Is the door for other
candidates from the Negro Leagues closed?
For years
the Hall of Fame’s Veteran’s Committee had been responsible for considering
candidates who failed to get the necessary votes needed for induction during
their initial years of eligibility. However,
in 2010 the committee was restructured into three separate committees. The Pre-integration Committee was created to
consider candidates that existed prior to 1947, the year Jackie Robinson
crossed the “invisible color line” to become the first African American or
dark-skinned Latino to play Major League baseball. The other two created were the Golden Era Committee
to consider potential Hall of Fame candidates from the period 1947 – 1973 and
the Expansion Era Committee to consider those from after 1973.
With a grant
from Major League Baseball, the Hall of Fame in 2006 created a special
committee of baseball historians to give a thorough review of the Negro League
baseball era. Based on the committee’s
work, 99 individuals were identified as eligible for Hall of Fame
recognition. Of those, a final vote was
taken on 39 of which 17 were recommended to be a part of the 2006 induction
class.
It will be
the responsibility of the Pre-integration Committee for adding others that are
deserving recognition from the Negro League era. The committee meets every three years and so
far there have been no nominations from that era. The legitimacy of Negro League baseball is no
longer in question. It is time to give a
second look at some of the 82 identified from the black ball era, but not
chosen by the 2006 special committee.
As I stated
in The Last Train to Cooperstown;
“It is uncertain as to whether any of the other
former Negro League players and executives/managers not chosen during the 2006
selection process will be someday elected into the Hall of Fame. Although one, John “Buck” O’Neil, has a
statue now at Cooperstown recognizing him as Negro League baseball’s greatest
ambassador, he did not get selected for induction in 2006 as a player. Also not selected were: “Cannonball” Dick Redding, who some say threw
the ball as hard as Hall of Famer “Smokey” Joe Williams; Grant “Home Run”
Johnson; Dick Lundy; Newt Allen; C. I. Taylor; or Minnie Minoso who also had an
All-Star Major League career. They will
be included in the on-going debate along with former Major League players such
as Gil Hodges, Roger Maris, and others about who deserves a plaque in
Cooperstown.
But being a part of the black baseball era should
not negatively affect the Negro Leaguers in this debate. Negro League baseball has come from behind
the “invisible color line” and is now clearly identified as an everlasting
fixture of baseball history. The 17 Hall
of Fame inductees from the Negro Leagues that arrived on the train to
Cooperstown in 2006 cemented that fact”.
For more information go to http://booklaunch.io/kevinlmitchell/last-train-to-cooperstown.
