The Modern Era committee held their voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame this week, of which Marvin Miller and Ted Simmons were elected. The process consisted of 16 voters, with 12 votes required in order to be enshrined.
The Modern Baseball Era is one of four Era Committees, each of which provide an avenue for Hall of Fame consideration to managers, umpires and executives, as well as players retired for more than 15 seasons.
This year’s panel consisted of Sandy Alderson, George Brett, Rod Carew, Bill Center, Dave Dombrowski, Dennis Eckersley, David Glass, Steve Hirdt, Walt Jocketty, Doug Melvin, Eddie Murray, Jack O’Connell, Tracy Ringolsby, Terry Ryan, Ozzie Smith and Robin Yount.
Simmons and Miller received 13 and 12 votes, respectively. They were part of a ballot that also included a pair of former Los Angeles Dodgers players in Steve Garvey and Tommy John. Rounding out the group are Dwight Evans, Don Mattingly, Thurman Munson, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker and Lou Whitaker.
Simmons, 70, played 21 Major League seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves from 1968-88. He was named an All-Star eight times, placed twice in the top-10 for National League MVP voting and appeared in 2,456 games over the course of his career.
Simmons, a switch-hitting catcher, accumulated 50.3 WAR (Baseball-Reference) and batted an overall .285/.348/.437 with 483 doubles, 47 triples, 248 home runs and 1,389 RBI across 9,685 plate appearances. He additionally tallied 2,472 hits and drew more walks (855) than strikeouts (694) over a span of two-plus decades in the Majors.
Miller served as the head of the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1966-88 and was instrumental in negotiating the first CBA (1968). He also introduced the salary arbitration process and free agency period, helping a countless amount of players earn substantial raises along the way.
Miller passed away in 2002, but to this day is still considered one of the most important figures in sports labor history.
Miller and Simmons, along with any electees who emerge from the 2020 Baseball Writers’ Association of America election, will be honored in Cooperstown on July 26, 2020. The results will be announced Jan. 21, 2020.
Former Los Angeles Dodgers Steve Garvey and Tommy John both fell short in the Modern Era vote. Garvey was featured on the traditional Hall of Fame ballot for 15 years, receiving a personal-best 42.6% of the vote in 1995.
Players require 75% of the vote in order to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
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