Golden Era Committee announces results of Hall of Fame ballot

Last week I reviewed this week's candidates to be voted on by members of the Golden Era (Veterans) Committee. With 16 voters on the committee, 12 votes were needed to gain entrance into the hallowed Hall of Cooperstown.

Each of the voters was only allowed to vote for up to 4 of the 10 candidates: hitters Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Maury Wills; pitchers Jim Kaat, Billy Pierce, Luis Tiant; and executive Bob Howsam.

Who did the committee vote in?

...Nobody.

Oliva and Allen just missed their tickets, finishing with 11 votes. Kaat received 10, Wills 9 and Minoso 8. Boyer, Hodges, Pierce, Tiant and Howsam each received 3 or fewer votes.

Kaat matched his 10 votes from 2011, while Hodges tumbled down from 9. All will be eligible to get back on the ballot in 2017. However, they must first pass muster with the BBWAA Historical Committee, which usually considers approximately 200 candidates and pares the list down to the ten that the  Golden Era committee votes on.

As I mentioned previously, I would have voted for Allen and Howsam. The committee almost agreed with me on Allen, but I was not even close with Howsam. I was also surprised Kaat and his 16 Gold Gloves were left out again, but the people who make up the committee do change each triennial.

The next announcement on January 6 will be the big one, when one of the most crowded ballots ever will hopefully lead to the BBWAA inducting a large class. But as I have been conditioned by the BBWAA in recent years, I'll likely be disappointed. We'll have more on the various candidates on that ballot in the coming weeks.