Matters of Black and Right in the BHOF

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Palo Alto, California - July, 2006

The great Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox – the last .400 hitter – spoke these words upon his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1966. In raising an issue that had not been discussed or debated, Williams set into motion a series of events that led to this July's induction of Negro Leaguers not included in previous elections.

Jackie Robinson broke the 20th century baseball color bar in 1947. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the first opportunity after retirement in 1962. But Williams' speech dramatizes the plight of Negro Leaguers – even those who had played for a relatively brief period of time – and underscores the recompense owed them for denial of opportunities. And, even prior to the Negro Leagues, between 1878 and 1899, 33 black players, briefly part of organized "white" baseball, were both ostracized and expelled.

Four years after Williams' comments, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn created a committee for the annual induction of players who had at least ten years of seniority in the Negro Leagues and who were ineligible for regular Hall election. The Hall enshrined seven of the best players before the committee's dissolution in 1977. Since that time the regular Veterans Committee has inducted nine former Negro Leaguers as well. But, quite naturally, the veterans favored players whom they knew – and they did not know those from the Negro Leagues moribund by the 1960s. Talented black players were overlooked.

Ted Williams set in motion a chain of events 48 years ago that culminated at Cooperstown in July. Henry Aaron at left.

Baseball sought to remedy this limitation with a new round of inductions in July. Major League Baseball deserves laud and honor for its initiative. What the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco ruled with regard to pension and medical benefits which MLB has instituted for Negro League players who would not otherwise qualify applies to the Hall of Fame: "To the extent that MLB sought to remedy in part its past discriminatory conduct, it acted honorably and decently..."

That said, the process was considerably short of the ideal. In the first place, it appeared that the Hall of Fame intended to make this a one-shot deal that could not be revisited to provide future inductions on the basis of further research. However, the Hall's Dale Petroskey seemed to amend this position recently when he said: "As more information comes to light down the road, the door is always open to the possibility of perhaps further consideration."

But a second problem relates to the evaluators – both at the five-member screening committee level – and also the full 12-member voting group, which, according to Cooperstown, possessed "expertise in African-American baseball history."

None of the living former Negro Leaguers participated. This seems particularly puzzling when one considers the fact that some like Monte Irvin have both been voted into the Hall of Fame and called upon by MLB itself as troubleshooters in the past. They and others may not have seen the relevant players, but many have learned about them anecdotally and read about them as youngsters.