Former Major League Baseball commissioner and Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig is one of 10 men on the Today's Game Era ballot to be voted on for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017, that institution announced Monday.
The list of five former players, three executives and two managers will be reviewed and voted on Dec. 5 at the winter meetings in National Harbor, Md. Any candidate receiving 75 percent of the ballots cast by the 16-member committee will earn election to the Hall of Fame and be inducted in Cooperstown on July 30, 2017.
Selig joins longtime Atlanta Braves executive John Schuerholz and late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner on the ballot with former managers Lou Piniella and Davey Johnson and former players Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser and Mark McGwire, who failed to gain election while eligible in voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America primarily for his connection to steroid use.
The Today's Game Era was one of four Eras Committees identified in July when the Hall of Fame's board of directors announced changes to the Era Committee system, which provides consideration to managers, umpires and executives as well as players no longer on the BBWAA ballot. The 10 finalists were selected by a BBWAA-appointed historical overview committee, who looked at those with significant impact on the game from 1988 through the present.
Selig, 82, served for 22 years as baseball's ninth commissioner starting on an interim basis in 1992 and then full-time basis in 1998 before retiring in January 2015. During his tenure, the game was transformed through a series of innovations including two rounds of expansion, the creation of wild-card playoff teams, interleague play, increased revenue sharing and drug testing as well as the creation of the World Baseball Classic.
The Eras Committees consist of four different electorates, including Modern Baseball (1970-87), Golden Days (1950-69) and Early Baseball (prior to 1950). The Today's Game committee meets twice in a five-year period.
