Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2012 will proceed according to rules most recently revised in July 2010. As in the past, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) will vote by mail to select from a ballot of recently-retired players, with the announcement of results expected early in January. One Veterans Committee panel, the second of three established by the July 2010 rules change, convened early in December to select from a ballot of retired players and non-playing personnel who made their greatest contributions to the sport between 1947 and 1972, called the "Golden Era" by the Hall.[1]
As of December 5, 2011, the induction class consists of Ron Santo. elected by the Veterans Committee.[2]
The induction ceremonies will be held on July 22, 2012 at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.[3] On July 21, the Hall will present two awards for media excellence—its own Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters and the BBWAA's J. G. Taylor Spink Award for writers.[4]
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The BBWAA ballot was announced on November 30, 2011. The BBWAA will be authorized to elect players active in 1992 or later, but not after 2006; the ballot includes candidates from the 2011 ballot who received at least 5% of the vote but were not elected, along with selected players, chosen by a screening committee, whose last appearance was in 2006. All 10-year members of the BBWAA will be eligible to vote.
Results of the 2011 election by the BBWAA are expected to be announced on January 9, 2012. The ballot consists of the 14 candidates who received at least 5% of the vote in the 2011 election, plus 13 first-time candidates . Voters will be instructed to cast votes for up to 10 candidates; any candidate who receives votes on at least 75% of the ballots will be honored with induction to the Hall. Write-in votes are not permitted.
Prior to the announcement of results, expected early January, this ballot is ordered thus: first, returning candidates ordered by votes received in 2011 balloting (Larkin to González); second, new candidates in alphabetic order by surname.
The biggest issue surrounding this election is likely to remain the controversy over use of performance-enhancing drugs.[5] During the 2011 voting, debate about the influence of steroids on the game in the 1990s was widely believed to have affected the vote totals for several power hitters on the ballot, including McGwire, Bagwell, Walker, Palmeiro, and González, regardless of whether they had ever tested positive for steroid use or had even been accused of involvement with steroids. Of these players:
The field of potential new candidates is considered to be weaker than it was in 2011. The most prominent new candidates include Bernie Williams, Rubén Sierra, Vinny Castilla, Eric Young, Tim Salmon, and Brad Radke. This will be the last election before a flood of potential top-tier candidates enters the ballot in the coming years:[5][11]
In keeping with the new Veterans Committee voting procedure, the existing Historical Overview Committee nominated 10 candidates who were judged to have made their greatest contributions between 1947 and 1972. Along with the 1947–1972 era, these criteria defined the consideration set:
The Historical Overview Committee was made up of 11 BBWAA members. Current members of the committee are Dave Van Dyck (Chicago Tribune); Bob Elliott (Toronto Sun); Rick Hummel (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); Steve Hirdt (Elias Sports Bureau); Bill Madden (New York Daily News); Ken Nigro (formerly Baltimore Sun); Jack O'Connell (BBWAA secretary/treasurer); Glenn Schwartz (formerly San Francisco Chronicle); Claire Smith (ESPN); Tracy Ringolsby (FSN Rocky Mountain); and Mark Whicker (Orange County Register).[3]
The ballot for election by the Veterans Committee was released on November 3, 2011,[12] and the Hall announced the results on December 5, 2011.[2]
| Candidate | Category | Votes | Percent | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ron Santo | Player | 15 | 93.8% | [13] |
| Jim Kaat | Player | 10 | 62.5% | [13] |
| Gil Hodges | Player | 9 | 56.3% | [13] |
| Minnie Miñoso | Player | 9 | 56.3% | [13] |
| Tony Oliva | Player | 8 | 50% | [13] |
| Buzzie Bavasi | Executive | < 3 | < 18.8% | [13] |
| Ken Boyer | Player | < 3 | < 18.8% | [13] |
| Charlie Finley | Executive | < 3 | < 18.8% | [13] |
| Allie Reynolds | Player | < 3 | < 18.8% | [13] |
| Luis Tiant | Player | < 3 | < 18.8% | [13] |
Kaat, Miñoso, Oliva, and Tiant were living when the ballot was announced.[12]
The voting committee appointed by the Hall's Board of Directors—officially called the "Golden Era Committee" by the Hall, but still generally referred to by media as the "Veterans Committee"—was announced at the same time as the final ballot:[12]
The committee convened at the 2011 winter meetings with the standard 75% or 12 of 16 votes required for election and summer 2012 induction.[3]
The J. G. Taylor Spink Award has been presented by the BBWAA at the annual summer induction ceremonies since 1962.[14] Through 2010, it was awarded during the main induction ceremony, but is now awarded the previous day at the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation. It recognizes a sportswriter "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing".[15] The recipients are not members of the Hall of the Fame but are featured in a permanent exhibit at the National Baseball Museum.
The three nominees for the 2012 award were selected by a three-person BBWAA committee and announced at the BBWAA's annual All-Star Game meeting on July 12, 2011 at Chase Field in Phoenix. They were Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun; Paul Hagen, then of the Philadelphia Daily News; and Russell Schneider, formerly of The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. This was the fourth consecutive year Elliott had been nominated.[16]
Under BBWAA rules, the winner was to be announced either during the 2011 World Series or at the 2011 winter meetings. The winner of the 2012 J. G. Taylor Spink Award, announced at the winter meetings, was Elliott, who received 205 votes from the 455 ballots cast. Hagen received 169 votes and Schneider 61. Elliott became the first Canadian recipient of the award.[16]
This is Elliott's second award for writing excellence from a major baseball hall of fame. He was the 2010 recipient of the Jack Graney Award, given irregularly for excellence in either writing or broadcasting, from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.[17]
The Ford C. Frick Award, honoring excellence in baseball broadcasting, has been presented at the induction ceremonies since 1978.[18] Through 2010, it had been presented at the main induction ceremony, but is now presented at the Awards Presentation. Recipients are not members of the Hall of Fame but are permanently recognized in an exhibit at the museum. To be eligible, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league broadcast service with a ball club, a network, or a combination of the two. The honor is based on four criteria: longevity; continuity with a club; honors, including national assignments such as the World Series and All-Star Games; and popularity with fans. The recipient was announced during the 2011 winter meetings, following a vote by the same committee that selected seven of the finalists (below).[19]
Ten finalists were announced on October 5, 2011.[19] In accord with guidelines established in 2003, seven were chosen by a committee composed of the living recipients along with broadcasting historians and columnists. Three were selected from a list of candidates by fan voting in September 2011 at the Hall's Facebook page.[20]
Five candidates were living when the ballot was announced—the active McCarver, Nadel, and Shannon; and the retired Cárdenas and Doucet.[19]
On December 7, Tim McCarver, the lead analyst for Major League Baseball on Fox since 1996, was named as the recipient. A catcher in MLB for 22 years, mostly with the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies, he joined the Phillies' local television broadcast team almost immediately after his first retirement as a player in 1979 (he would briefly return as a player late in the 1980 season). From there, he went on to the New York Mets' local broadcast team before moving to national network television. McCarver has been an analyst for all four of the major U.S. over-the-air broadcast networks during his career.[21]
McCarver becomes the second Frick Award winner, after 2009 recipient Tony Kubek, whose broadcasting career was exclusively in television.[21]
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