2019 June 14

Last July, the Baseball Hall of Fame quietly did a good thing. A decade before, the Hall had permanently shut the door on Negro League inductions after a special, one-off election that put in 17 contributors. Several people subsequently cried foul, becausewhite contributorsas far back as the 19th centuryhave remained eligible. So last July, amid a series of rule changes, the Hall of Fame made Negro Leaguers eligible again.There’s a catch. Negro Leaguers areeligible again, butthey and all othersfrom baseball history who made their most significant contribution before 1950 can be considered just once every 10 years. The door to Cooperstown is open again for Negro Leaguers, but just barely.With Black History Month wrapping up Tuesday, here’s a plea to the Hall of Fame:Reconsider thepolicy toward Negro Leaguers. Negro Leaguers have not been honored in Cooperstown at anywhere close to the same level as white players and anyone who’s played in the majorssince Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier 1947. A number of outstanding Negro League players and executives remain outside Cooperstown. They deserve more than one or two inductions at best per decade.MORE: Ranking the 25 worst Baseball Hall of Fame selectionsThis plea could be extended to the Hall’s veteran voting proce s in general. Veterans groups don’t vote on any era of players annually. Candidates from 1988 to present and 1970 to 1987 each get voted on twice every five years. Candidates from 1950 to 1969 get voted on once every five years. But only Negro Leaguers and pre-1950 candidates get voted on once every decade.So who are some of the Negro League contributors who might be worthy of more frequent consideration by the Hall of Fame? Here are 10 deserving of at least another look:1. Buck O’Neil: Perhaps the worst moment in Hall of Fame history came https://www.astrosedges.com/houston-astros/justin-verlander-jersey in February 2006 when 94-year-old O’Neil had a chance to be among the 17 Negro League inductees that year but inexplicably wasn’t selected. O’Neil died within a year. But it’s not too late to correct an injustice and give him a plaque in Cooperstown. He’s the greatest amba sador in baseball history. He was also one of the finest first basemen the Negro Leagues ever knew.2. Gus Greenlee:A pioneering Negro League owner, Greenlee’s po sibly gotten short shrift because he accummulated some of his fortune through bootlegging and running illegal lotteries in Pittsburgh in the 1920s and ’30s. But the 2006 committee Evan Gattis Jersey enshrined Alex Pompez, who once fled the country and later turned state’s evidence to beat a murder rap. A number of other Negro League executives made money through illicit means as well. Meanwhile, Greenlee built the first black-owned ballpark in black baseball. He also had a hand in scouting Jackie Robinson for the majors.3. John Donaldson: Donaldson ranks as one of the best black pitchers of the 1910s, pitching for J.L. Wilkinson’s integrated All Nations barnstorming team. The challenge for Donaldson? He starred before the founding of the Negro Leagues, overlooked in a similarway to white players such as Jim Creighton from before the founding of the first major league in 1871.4. Bud Fowler:Decades before Jackie Robinson, Fowler played with whites in the majors of the Reconstruction Era 1870s. African-Americans were pushed out of the majors in the 1880s, though Fowler’s page on Baseball-Reference.com shows profe sional credits as late as 1895.5. Home Run Johnson: Johnson was a candidate for the 2006 special election. His candidate page for that election makes him sound like he should have been a shoo-in, noting him as the best shortstop in black baseball before John HenryLloyd (an inner circle Negro League selection to Cooperstown) and attributing his nickname to him once hitting 60 home runs in a season.6. Spottswood Poles: A speedy centerfielder of the 1910s, some called Poles the black Ty Cobb. Negro League historian John Holway wrote, “We can only gue s what (Poles)might have hit in the major leagues.The hints we do have are eye-popping, to say the least.In tengames against the best white big leaguers of his day, Poles came to bat an estimated 41 times and drilled 25 hits for an average of .610!”7. Newt Allen:No le s an authority on black baseball than Buck O’Neil considered Allen a first-ballot Hall of Famer, Negro League Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick tweeted a few years ago. The website CooperstownExpert.com also noted that O’Neil included Allen on his all-time Negro League All Star team.8. Bingo DeMo s:DeMo s’pageon Baseball-Reference.com doesn’t make him out to be amongthe greatest second basemen in Negro League history, with him showing for just a .227/.301/.278 slash line. The thing to remember about Negro League statistics they’re spotty at best, with some teams refusing to keep stats because of the cost. A 1952 Pittsburgh Courier Preston Tucker Jersey polllisted DeMo s as the second-best Negro League second baseman behind Jackie Robinson.9. Dick Lundy: Like many Negro Leaguers, Lundy had an epic career spanning 22 years from 1916 through 1937. It was a superb one, too, with legendary New York Giants manager John McGraw labeling Lundy the best shortstop in baseball aside from Honus Wagner, according to Lundy’s candidate profile in 2006.10. Ted Radcliffe: Famed sportswriter Damon Runyon nicknamed Radcliffe “Double Duty” after watching him pitch one end of a doubleheader and catch the other. Remarkably durable, he played until he was 52.More than likely, this list just scratches the surface. Negro League baseball remains enigmatic, with some elements that might never be fully known. But that doesn’t mean the Hall of Fame shouldn’t at least try to paint a better picture.