2024 Baseball Hall of Fame Contemporary Era Committee Results

Jim Leyland, sneaking a smoke in the dugout with the Tigers.

Yesterday the Contemporary Baseball Era committee met and elected Jim Leyland to the Baseball Hall of Fame. In my post last week, I predicted the committee might elect more than one man from the ballot, but that didn’t happen. Lou Piniella was named on 11 of 16 ballots, missing election by just one vote. Bill White received 10 votes, and none of the other men on the ballot received more than 5 votes.  

I’m not surprised that Leyland was elected, he was a great manager who managed a lot of excellent teams over his career. I was a little surprised that Piniella wasn’t elected as well, but since he’s come so close to getting elected, I think he will get in one of these times. I think it would be cool to have Bill White in the Hall of Fame, but it seems a little odd to elect him as an executive since he only spent 5 years in that role. I think baseball should have some kind of “overall excellence” Hall of Fame they could put people in. I was thinking of something similar for Lefty O’Doul when he was on an Era Committee ballot in 2021. O’Doul’s career was really too short to elect him to the Hall of Fame as a player, but he also managed in the Pacific Coast League for 22 years after his playing career. But the Baseball Hall of Fame doesn’t honor minor league managers. So, there’s not much of a path for O’Doul to get into the Hall of Fame. Bill White falls into a similar category. White was an excellent player, but not quite great enough for the Hall of Fame. White was then an announcer for the Yankees from 1971 to 1988, a distinguished run, but not worth of Hall entry on its own. Perhaps those figures in baseball who don’t quite fit in the other categories should be eligible for this imaginary “overall excellence” Hall of Fame wing.  

I was also shocked that umpire Joe West didn’t get elected to the Hall of Fame. West has umpired more games than anyone else in MLB history. What more do you want from an umpire?  

Stay tuned for my upcoming post in December where I profile the candidates on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot.