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Special Committee on the Negro Leagues
From BR Bullpen
The Hall of Fame has had two Special Committees on the Negro League. The first committee was founded in 1971. It was chaired by Monte Irvin and instituted by commissioner Bowie Kuhn. The committee was to elect one or two former Negro League players to the Hall of Fame until their mission was complete. The second was formed in 2001 by a grant to research African Americans in baseball from 1860 to 1960. Due to this new research, a committee was formed to elect players and executives that may have been previously overlooked.
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[edit] 1971 Committee
The original committee had ten voting members and two ad hoc members.
Voting members
- Monte Irvin (Chairman)
- Eppie Barnes
- Roy Campanella
- Frank Forbes
- Ed Gottlieb
- Judy Johnson
- Sam Lacy
- Alex Pompez
- Wendell Smith
- Bill Yancey
Ad hoc members
The committee elected the following players:
- Satchel Paige, 1971
- Josh Gibson, 1972
- Buck Leonard, 1972
- Monte Irvin, 1973
- Cool Papa Bell, 1974
- Judy Johnson, 1975
- Oscar Charleston, 1976
- Pop Lloyd, 1976
- Martin Dihigo, 1977
In 1977, the committee voted to disband.
[edit] Interim Period
After the Special Committee disbanded, its powers were shifted to the Veterans Committee. The Vets Committee eventually elected Rube Foster (1981) and Ray Dandridge (1987).
From 1995 to 2001, the Veterans Committee was given a mandate to elect a Negro League player annually. They elected the following:
- Leon Day, 1995
- Bill Foster, 1996
- Willie Wells, 1997
- Bullet Joe Rogan, 1998
- Smokey Joe Williams, 1999
- Turkey Stearnes, 2000
- Hilton Smith, 2001
[edit] 2006 Committee
For further information, see 2006 Special Committee on the Negro Leagues Election
In 2001 the Hall of Fame received a grant from Major League Baseball for an extensive study of black baseball before 1960. As a result a second Special Committee on the Negro Leagues was formed. After an intial pool of 94 candidates was reduced to 39, the twelve person committee met on February 27, 2006 to elect players and executives from this pool.
The members of the committee were:
- Todd Bolton
- Greg Bond
- Adrian Burgos
- Dick Clark
- Ray Doswell
- Leslie Heaphy
- Larry Hogan
- Larry Lester
- Sammy Miller
- Jim Overmyer
- Robert Peterson
- Rob Ruck
The following 17 players and executives were elected by the committee:
Negro League Players
Pre-Negro League Players
Negro League Executives
Pre-Negro League Executive
[edit] Further Reading
- James, Bill. "The Politics of Glory." Scribner, 1994.
