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2013 Baseball Hall of Fame Natalie Weinberg University of Pennsylvania Nweinb@Sas.Upenn.Edu COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE Winter 2014 MICROECONOMICS 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame Natalie Weinberg University of Pennsylvania [email protected] Abstract The purpose of this paper is to outline potential reasons why the 2013 election vote into the Baseball Hall of Game failed to elect a new player. The paper compares various voting rules, and analyzes specific statistics of players. 6 COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE Winter 2014 MICROECONOMICS When a player is elected into nually (baseballhall.org). sdfsdf Each voter from the BBWAA the Baseball Hall of Fame, he The eligible candidate pool submits his or her top 10 pre- enters the club of the “immor- for the players ballot each year ferred candidates that he or she tals” (New York Times). The consists of all players who were feels is worthy to be inducted Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, part of Major League Baseball into the Hall from the list on New York, is a museum that (the MLB) for at least 10 con- the ballot (bbwaa.com). The honors and preserves the lega- secutive years and have been listed order is not relevant to 1 cy of outstanding baseball play- retired for at least five . Another the voting; each player in the ers throughout the decades. A committee narrows down this group of 10 is treated equally in player receives a great honor by pool to 200 players, and then the the count. In addition, a voter being voted in, and his career is 60-person BBWAA screening is only restricted to nominating stamped with a seal of approv- committee compiles the top 25 10 candidates, but he or she can al by the fans of the game. As players to go on the final ballot. choose as few as zero candidates such, there is a strict voting pro- A committee of six current Hall from the ballot if this is what he cedure to induct a player into of Famers can then add players or she prefers (baseballhall.org). the Hall of Fame. The big ques- to the list from the group of all In order to be elected, a play- tion is, how strict is too strict? first time eligible players (base- er must appear in a minimum The current voting proce- ballprospectus.com). In this of 75 percent of the voters’ top dure in the Hall of Fame, also supplementary process, each 10 picks. If he is listed on fewer known as the Hall, is bifurcated voter ranks their top five pre- than 5 percent of these lists, he into two separate systems, each ferred candidates, and if a player is disqualified for all future vot- with its own ballot. The Play- appears on two of the six lists of ing cycles on the Players Ballot. ers Ballot is run by the Baseball top 5 players, he is added to the There is no maximum or min- Writer’s Association of America ballot (baseball-reference.com). imum number of candidates (BBWAA), and the Composite A player is disqualified from who must be elected each year. Ballot is run by the Veterans the pool if he has appeared on There can be as little as zero Committee (Baseballhall.org). the official players ballot for elected, or as many as can earn The voters of the Players 15 times without being elect- 75 percent of the voting share Ballot consist of over 550 dis- ed, or if he did not receive the (baseballhall.org). This has tinguished sports journalists required minimum vote in been the voting procedure for who have been members of the the previous year’s election. the Players Ballot since 1967, BBWAA for at least 10 consecu- Otherwise, most players from although there has been contro- tive years. The exact number of the previous year’s ballot ad- versy surrounding changes to voters is subject to slight change vance to the next cycle of vot- the voting procedure in the past. from year to year. The writers ing (baseball-reference.com). The second branch of the can remain part of the vote even The final Players Ballot each voting system is the Com- if they are not active members year is usually comprised of 25 posite Ballot, which is run by of the BBWAA. This branch of to 40 candidates, and the final the Veterans Committee. This the system holds elections an- voting procedure is as follows: ballot is designed for electing 1Rare exceptions have been made in the past for recently deceased players or other extenuating circumstances 7 COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE Winter 2014 MICROECONOMICS all players who are disqualified credibly disappointing and left ing schedule. By having more from the Players Ballot or who many baseball fans wonder- frequent voting cycles, more are not players on the field. This ing: Why was no one elected? players had the ability for con- pool includes players who have One possible reason for the sideration and were less likely been unelected on the ballot for enigma is that the voting system to be passed over for superior 15 cycles, as well as managers, is flawed. Perhaps the voting players in proximate years. Oth- umpires, owners, and execu- procedure needs to be changed er changes to the voting rules tives (New York Times). This so that this issue will not arise in served to narrow down the pool is significant because it still al- the future. Previous alterations of players. On the one hand, lows any player who is no lon- to the voting system through- these changes made it easier for ger eligible for the Players Bal- out history can reveal some of qualified players to be induct- lot a chance to be enshrined the motivations behind the cur- ed; however, they also raised in the Hall of Fame through rent system and why the system the qualifications and made the the Composite Ballot. Recent is not flawed. When the vote process more selective. For ex- changes to this voting system began in 1936, any member of ample, changes in subsequent have increased the number of the BBWAA was eligible to vote. years added the limitation that voters in the Veterans Com- In order to increase the level of the initial pool of players would mittee from 15 to close to 80 in ‘expertise’ in the voting body, a only include those who had order to allow members of the new rule was instated in 1958 been retired for at least 5 years. Hall of Fame to participate in that limited the voting body to Other changes added the use the process. The Veteran’s com- only those who had been with of a pre-screened ballot so that mittee has very different voting the BBWAA for at least 10 years. the selection of the final ballot rules and qualifications than It became a privilege to be able would only include the most the BBWAA and will not be in- to vote in the election, and vot- skilled and respected players. cluded within the scope of this ers took the responsibility more Lastly, later modifications add- study. This analysis will focus seriously (New York Times). ed the condition that any play- on the elections by the BBWAA This also decreased the size of er who had been unelected on from the Players Ballot and the voting population, which the ballot for 15 cycles, or had the controversial results from allowed for a less stratified vote. received less than 5 percent of this vote in the 2013 election. In addition, the voting changes the vote share in a given year, The 2013 vote by the BBWAA in 1958 stated that each voter was automatically eliminated did not elect a single player to could nominate no more than by the BBWAA from all future the Hall of Fame for the first 10 players from the final ballot votes (baseballhall.org). This time since 1996 (ESPN). The (baseballhall.org). This allowed rule served to clear out the ob- only people inducted this year voters the ability to select less vious “non-winners” in order were those elected through the than 10 nominees, which made to unclog the ballot and make Veteran’s Committee, and none the process more competitive. room for stronger candidates. had been members of a team Elections were initially held Meanwhile, throughout the in the MLB on the field in the once every three years, and after years, there are two rules that last century (baseball-refer- numerous alterations the rule have never changed from the ence.com). This result was in- was settled with an annual vot- initial procedure. One is the 8 COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE Winter 2014 MICROECONOMICS rule limiting the pool to include than the 2012 ballot, or a to- issue further. However, with- only players with 10 years of tal of 37 candidates2. However, out this data it remains unclear consecutive MLB play, and the 19 of the 2013 candidates were whether the increase in players second is the 75 percent of vot- not nominated by even 5 per- on the ballot resulted in a ‘strict- ing nominations minimum in cent of the voters. Although an er’ voting cycle than prior years. order to be inducted into the Hall. increase in candidates means The absence of any sufficient- The evolution of the voting a lesser likelihood of any indi- ly qualified candidates may also procedure rules proved that in vidual being nominated, over be a factor contributing to the fact each aspect of the process 50 percent of the candidates re- absence of a winner. It is per- was created deliberately for a ceived so little voting share that fectly feasible that the batch specified purpose.
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