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National Baseball Hall of Fame keeps Doors Shut on Veterans.
For the third straight year the Veterans Committee will not be admitting anybody into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 29. This year’s induction class will be comprised of just Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr as Ron Santo fell just five votes shy of making it to Cooperstown.
Santo had appeared in nine All-Star games during his 15-year career, of which he played 14 with the Chicago Cubs. The five-time gold glove winning third baseman finished his career with a .277 batting average, 342 homeruns, 1,331 RBIs. Needing to appear on 75 percent of the voters’ ballots Santo was selected by 57 of the 82 casting members for a 70 percent total.
Jim Kaat was left off the list as well. Kaat played 25-years in a MLB uniform with the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals. Kaat set the standard for pitchers fielding their position, totaling 16 golden gloves. He won a World Series ring with the Cardinals in 1982. Kaat finished with 283 wins, 3.45 ERA and 2461 strikeouts. He received 52 votes by the Veterans Committee.
Long time umpire Doug Harvey also received 52 votes, falling shy of the 62 needed to receive a bust. A National league umpire from 1962-1992, Harvey was involve din nearly 5,000 MLB games.
Also falling short were Marvin Miller, the former executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 – 1982; Gil Hodges, the excellent defensive first baseman for the Dodgers who finished with 370 career homeruns.; and Tony Oliva, a career .304 hitter with three AL batting titles and finished second in the MVP race twice.
