The late Buck O’Neil could be elected to Baseball Hall of Fame in early December
There could be one heck of a party at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on Dec. 5.
That’s because the late John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil could be chosen that day for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, which announced he is on the Early Baseball Era ballot.
Sixteen members will comprise the Early Baseball Committee, and they will be Hall of Famers, executives, and veteran media members, per the Hall of Fame. The vote will take place Dec. 5 at MLB’s Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida. The results will be announced on the MLB Network that night.
Since being bypassed for election to the Hall in 2006 by a 12-person special committee that selected people with ties to the Negro Leagues, O’Neil’s resumé undoubtedly got a boost.
First, there was O’Neil’s gracious reaction to missing the Hall of Fame, and then last December, more than 24 years after O’Neil’s death, Major League Baseball recognized the Negro Leagues as “Major League.”
O’Neil, who won championships as a player and manager with the Kansas City Monarchs, was the first black MLB coach with the Cubs. He later was a special scout with the Royals.
The rest of the candidates on the Early Baseball ballot: Bill Dahlen, John Donaldson, Bud Fowler, Vic Harris, Grant Johnson, Lefty O’Doul, Dick Redding, Allie Reynolds and George Scales.
“Seven Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues legends and three American League/National League stars comprise the 10-name Early Baseball Era ballot, which features candidates whose primary contribution to the game came prior to 1950,” the Hall of Fame said in a statement.
Donaldson, who is in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, spent part of his career in Kansas City.
Any of those candidates who receives 75% of the vote from the 16-member committee will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 24, 2022. They’ll be enshrined with those elected by a Golden Days Era committee, which also will vote at the Winter Meetings.
Among the players on the Golden Days Era is former Kansas City A’s outfielder Roger Maris, who set a major-league record with 61 home runs in 1961 with the New York Yankees.
Also part of that ceremony will be anyone elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. That announcement will be made on Jan. 25, 2022.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 2:39 PM.
