8 players on the Classic Era ballot, needing 12 votes from a 16-person committee for induction to Cooperstown. Results will be revealed on December 8
The National Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday unveiled its Classic Era ballot, and four of the eight on the list played for the Dodgers at some point, headlined by Steve Garvey and Tommy John.
The Classic Era encompasses folks whose primary contributions to baseball came before 1980. A 16-member committee will deliberate and vote on these eight candidates, with 12 votes required for induction into the Hall of Fame. Results of this vote for the 2025 class will be unveiled on Sunday, December 8 to kick off the winter meetings in Dallas.
The full ballot is Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Garvvey, Vic Harris, John, Dave Parker, and Luis Tiant. Allen played one season for the for the Dodgers, in 1971, then was traded was traded to the White Sox for John and infielder Steve Huntz. Boyer, a longtime Cardinal, played in parts of 1968 and 1969 with the Dodgers.
Garvey was a 10-time All-Star in his career, eight of those with the Dodgers, and won the 1974 National League MVP award. He was on the BBWAA ballot for the Hall of Fame for the full 15 years (at the time, now the limit is 10 years), but never topped 41.6 percent of the writers’ vote.
Garvey was honored as a Legend of Dodger Baseball in 2019.
John has the “Fame” part of the equation down, as the elbow reconstruction surgery that bears his name has become ubiquitous in the 50 years since he was the first to undergo the procedure in 1974. But his career on the baseball field was remarkable in its own right, pitching in 26 major league seasons, and he pitched more innings and won more games after his surgery than before.
John never got more than 31.7 percent of the vote on the BBWAA ballot.
Both Garvey and John were on some version of what used to be called a veterans committee ballot for the classes of 2011, 2014, 2018, and 2020 as well, but in both cases did not receive anywhere near enough votes for induction. The best performance on those ballots by either player on the era committee ballots was when Garvey got six votes five years ago, half of what was needed.
Vic Harris is relevant to recent Dodgers news, if only because Dave Roberts last week added his second championship as manager to his four pennants. Only 24 managers in AL/NL history have won four pennants, and 22 of them are in the Hall of Fame, with the active Roberts and Bruce Bochy the only managers not yet enshrined.
Harris is the only other manager with that many pennants, winning seven of them with the Homestead Grays in the Negro Leagues, to go with his 18 years as a player.