Hall to unveil Committee electees live tonight

December 5th, 2021

The results of the Hall of Fame’s Early Baseball Era Committee ballot and Golden Days Era Committee ballot will be announced live on MLB Network tonight at 6 ET and on a simulcast streaming live on MLB.com.

The Early Baseball Era ballot features candidates whose primary contributions came before 1950. Seven of the 10 were stars in the Negro Leagues or pre-Negro Leagues: John Donaldson, Bud Fowler, Vic Harris, Grant “Home Run” Johnson, Buck O’Neil, Dick “Cannonball” Redding and George “Tubby” Scales. American and National Leaguers Bill Dahlen, Lefty O’Doul and Allie Reynolds round out the ballot. All 10 candidates are deceased.

The Golden Days Era ballot features candidates whose primary contributions came between 1950-69. Three players in that group are still living: Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva and Maury Wills. The other seven candidates are Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Roger Maris, Minnie Miñoso, Danny Murtaugh and Billy Pierce.

Both committees consist of 16 members who voted on each candidate. Anyone who received at least 12 votes (75%) will become part of the Hall’s Class of 2022, to be inducted in Cooperstown on July 24, along with any electees from this year’s Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) ballot.

The Early Baseball Era is considered only once every 10 years as part of the Hall’s Era Committees cycle, which also includes the Golden Days Era (every five years), Modern Baseball Era (1970-87; twice every five years) and Today’s Game Era (1988-present; twice every five years). So this will be the last chance at election for the Early Baseball Era candidates until the 2032 cycle.

To put together the list of candidates, the Hall’s Board of Directors convened a Special Early Baseball Overview Committee that consisted of five Negro Leagues historians and five veteran members of the BBWAA. A different Historical Overview Committee developed the Golden Days Era ballot.