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Selig, 9 others await call from Hall tonight
- Updated: December 4, 2016
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Former Commissioner Bud Selig said this week that he’s “superstitious” about his pending candidacy for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Major League Baseball’s ninth Commissioner is one of 10 greats on the ballot under consideration Sunday by the 16-person Today’s Game Era Committee — the latest iteration of the Veterans Committee format.
An announcement of any electees will come Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network and simulcast on MLB.com. They would be inducted in the Class of 2017 on July 30 in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with anyone elected from the annual ballot sent last month to eligible members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
MLB.com and MLB Network will have wall-to-wall coverage of the 2016 Winter Meetings from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center outside Washington, D.C. Fans can watch live streaming of all news conferences and manager availability on MLB.com, including the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday at 9 a.m. ET.
• Complete Hall of Fame coverage
As in any Hall process, it will take 75 percent of the vote to be elected by the Today’s Game Committee. In this case, that’s at least 12 votes on the 16 ballots cast. No one has been elected by the Committee the past two years.
“You know, I’m superstitious, so I’m not talking about it,” said Selig when reached by phone in his Milwaukee office. “You’ll understand that, obviously.”
Selig is on a ballot that includes five players, two managers and three executives.
Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser and Mark McGwire are the players, all of whom are no longer eligible for the BBWAA ballot. The managers are Lou Piniella and Davey Johnson. The executives include Braves president John Schuerholz, late Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner, and Selig, who retired after 23 years on Jan. 24, 2015.
The Committee format is the only way into the Hall for managers, umpires and executives. Steinbrenner is on the ballot for the third time since 2010, and he is the only one among this year’s group who has passed away. The Yanks won seven World Series and 11 American League pennants, during the 37 years of his ownership.
Just four of the 10 Commissioners have plaques in the Hall: Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Happy Chandler, Ford Frick and Bowie Kuhn, who was elected posthumously in 2009 — a year after his death. Kuhn is the only Commissioner to have been inducted in the past 25 years.
Schuerholz, as the general manager of the Braves, oversaw one of the greatest eras in baseball history, with his club winning a record 14 division titles in a row from 1991-2005 (sans the ’94 strike year), including five National League pennants and the 1995 World …
