Peter Gammons Proposes BWAA Panel for Baseball HOF

Peter Gammons: Panel of experts could be solution to current Hall of Fame system

January 10, 2014 by Peter Gammons 1 Comment

Mike Mussina, former Orioles & Yankees pitcher, was not elected to the HOF this year.

It is nearly 11 months until we begin submitting Hall of Fame ballots, and while everyone seems to agree there can be a better way than the system we now utilize, stomping our feet and staging “hell, no, we won’t go” protests accomplish little.
I get it. I get frustrated when a Ted Simmons or Luis Tiant falls between the cracks, or a huge chunk of voters ignore the actual records of Mike Mussina or Tim Raines. But rather than screaming, why not allow Jeff Idelson and Jack O’Connell to assemble a panel of experts from a number of sides, experts who genuinely care about the game and respect the important institution that is The Hall, and have a weekend think-tank. Not a righteous candlelight service. A thought process.
Go to the Otesaga in April, or the first weekend in May. Bill James should be there. Jay Jaffe. John Thorn. Brian Kenny. Jayson Stark. Tom Verducci. Vin Scully or Jon Miller. Jim Kaat, Tom Seaver, Joe Morgan and Al Kaline. Bill DeWitt and Jerry Reinsdorf. All suggestions welcome.
It can be a board or ten, it can be twenty, people who understand what it means to those men who are inducted as they sit on the porch and look out at the lake, people who legitimately care that as best as possible, the right people are elected.
There will never be a perfect solution, and we will always have arguments about Jack Morris vs. Curt Schilling or Tim Raines vs. Lou Brock, but they can be civil and respectful, not loud and angry.
We can work it out.