Two former New York managers are among the 20 candidates who appear on the 2008 National Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee ballot, which was released by the Cooperstown shrine Thursday.
Billy Martin and Davey Johnson are listed on the 10-man managers/umpires ballot, which will be voted on by a 16-member committee. Martin served two stints covering eight seasons as manager of the New York Yankees during the 1970s and 80s. Johnson managed the New York Mets for seven seasons in the mid-1980s.
Former Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn is one of 10 appearing on the executive ballot, which will be considered by a separate, 12-member panel.
Candidates who receive 75 percent of the vote on either ballot, if any, will be elected to the Hall and honored during the 2008 Induction Ceremony, which is scheduled for July 27 at the Clark Sports Center. Voters will be allowed to select up to four candidates on each ballot on Dec. 2. Results of the elections will be announced Dec. 3 during baseball's winter meetings.
The managers eligible for election are Martin, Johnson, Whitey Herzog, Gene Mauch, Danny Murtaugh, Billy Southworth and Dick Williams, while the umpires are Doug Harvey, Hank O'Day and Cy Rigler. Their voting committee features Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Jim Bunning, Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Al Kaline, Tom Lasorda, Phil Niekro, Tony Perez, Earl Weaver and Billy Williams; former executive Jim Frey; executives Roland Hemond and Bob Watson; and veteran media members Jack O'Connell, Tim Kurkjian and Tom Verducci.
Kuhn joins Buzzie Bavasi, Barney Dreyfuss, John Fetzer, Bob Howsam, Ewing Kauffmann, John McHale, Marvin Miller, Walter O'Malley and Gabe Paul on the executives ballot, which will be voted upon by Hall of Famers Monte Irvin and Harmon Killebrew; former executives Bobby Brown and John Harrington; executives Jerry Bell, Bill DeWitt, Bill Giles, David Glass and Andy MacPhail; and veteran media members Paul Hagen, Rick Hummel and Hal McCoy.
The Veterans Committee, now known as the Baseball Hall of Fame Committee on Baseball Veterans, has four ballots. The managers/umpires ballot and the executive ballot are considered every other year starting with the 2008 Induction year. Players whose careers spanned a period beginning in 1943 will be considered every other year starting with the 2009 Induction year. Players whose careers began before 1943 will be considered every five years, beginning with the 2009 Induction year.
All Hall of Fame members will vote on 1943-and-beyond players in late 2008 for the 2009 Induction year. A special 12-member committee, yet to be appointed, will vote on players whose careers began to prior to 1943, at the winter meetings in December 2008 for the 2009 Induction year. Ballots for both the pre-1943 and 1943-and-beyond elections will be created and released in the fall of 2008.
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