Yankees: Will Lou Piniella and George Steinbrenner be elected to the Hall of Fame?

The highest honor for former Yankees players, as well as any other ex-ballplayer or notable individuals who worked in baseball, is to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Yankees fans know that active members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) for 10 or more years decide who should be inducted into the Hall.

Initially, membership to the BBWAA was comprised only of newspaper writers. Rules were loosened after the year 2000, allowing prominent internet-based journalists to become members of the BBWAA.

This change was made because the number of newspapers in the U.S. has been rapidly dwindling and baseball coverage has taken on new forms, especially through the Internet.

Baseball Hall of Fame selection process 

Once a player has been retired for five seasons, is professionally worthy, and is in good standing (i.e., not banned from baseball), he is placed on the ballot for inclusion into the Hall. A player is elected into when he receives at least 75 percent of all the votes cast, which happens only in exceptional cases.

To remain on the ballot in future years, players must garner at least 5 percent of the votes for any given year. Players who do not receive 5 percent (many eligible players do not) fall off the ballot. Players no longer appear on the ballot 16 years after they retire.

The outcome of this year’s voting for recent eligible ball players will be announced on January 22, 2019.

Another way former Yankees and others can become members of the Hall is through a voting process in which specific groups of writers representing particular eras of baseball select them. Here, too, a candidate requires at least 75 percent of the vote to be elected.

Before 2010, The Committee on Baseball Veterans of the BBWAA selected inductees who could no longer be voted on by all eligible sports writers.

Between 2010 and 2016, three different 16-member groups voted on players, managers, executives and other baseball figures who had either fallen off the BBWAA ballot or were never considered. Former Bronx Bombers’ manager Joe Torre, for instance, was evaluated on his 18 years as both a player and a manager and was inducted into the HOF in 2014.

The HOF modified its era-based voting blocs in 2016. The new arrangement now includes four 16-member committees, each one representing a distinct era of baseball similar to before. This came along with a new review schedule that assessed candidates from the recent past, more often than those of the older, previous eras, which the Veterans Committees of the past had basically exhausted.

This year represents the second time in the past three years that voters will cast ballots on players and others who belong in Today’s Game Era. This era designation is new and covers 1988 to the present.

Selections to the HOF by the Today’s Game Era committee will be announced on December 9, during the Baseball Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Overall, there are 26 Yankees in the Hall, more than any other MLB team. The NY/SF Giants have the second most elected members, 25.

Will Piniella be elected to the Hall?

This year’s full list of candidates identified by the members of Today’s Game Era committee includes six players, three managers and one executive. Former Bomber, Lou Piniella, as a manager — and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner as a baseball executive.

Piniella played outfield primarily for 11 years (1974-1984) with the Yanks, batting a respectable .295 with the team. Prior to joining the Bombers, he played five years with the Royals and hit .286. His career home run and RBI totals for an outfielder, however, were unimpressive — only 102 homers and 766 RBIs. These are not HOF numbers.

After he retired as a player in 1984, Pinella became the Yanks’ hitting coach. He then managed the club from 1986 to 1987, was promoted to GM at the beginning of the 1988 season, and took over as manager after Billy Martin was fired on June 23, 1988. While managing the Yanks, the team’s total won-loss record was 224-193.

As Jon Tayler points out, Piniella has a World Series title to his credit as manager of the 1990 Cincinnati Reds. He also was selected as Manager of the Year three times. However, his record is also comprised of multiple playoff losers, which includes being the unlucky manager of the 2001 Seattle Mariners that won 116 games during the regular season only to choke in the playoffs (ironically, the Yankees defeated the Mariners 4-1 in the ALCS that year).

Piniella ranks 16th all-time in wins (1,835) as a skipper. He also ranks 13th in losses (1,713) due in large part to his years in charge of the expansion Tampa Bay Rays.

Managers who are already in Cooperstown that have significantly better records than Pinella include former Yankee skippers Miller Huggins, Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel. To date, a total of 23 managers have been inducted into the HOF. It is highly unlikely that Pinella will become No. 24.

Will Steinbrenner be elected to the Hall?

Former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is undoubtedly one of the most contentious and mercurial figures in baseball history. He owned the team for a very long time, from 1973 until his death in 2010.

Audacious and outspoken, he turned the organization into a dominant force in baseball during the 1970s, due in large part to his early and strategic engagement in free agency. He was also at the helm during the Yanks’ dynasty in the late 1990s.

The Boss feuded and dismissed managers on a regular basis (Billy Martin), often overrode wise decisions made by his talented general managers (Gene Michael), and frequently fought with his players in the media (Reggie Jackson and Dave Winfield, who were both elected to the Hall on the first ballot). The man born of the fourth of July ran the Bombers like the warlord Genghis Khan (sans long hair and facial hair).

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Steinbrenner was suspended from MLB two times. The first came in 1974 for 15 months over illegal campaign donations to President Richard Nixon. He received a felony conviction but was later pardoned by President Ronald Reagan. He was punished a second time in 1990 for paying notorious gambler Howard Spira, to find unflattering information on free-agent Dave Winfield. The ban from baseball for this offense was supposed to be for life, but it “only” lasted for three years.

Although Steinbrenner was undoubtedly one of the most influential and innovative owners in the history of baseball, the offenses that resulted in his suspensions were serious and reflected poorly on the reputation of his club and the game.

Both Piniella and Steinbrenner received minimal support the previous times they were considered for the HOF and will probably be rejected again this time around.

In my next article, I discuss candidates on this year’s five-year, post-retirement ballot, including those who played for the Yankees and that are eligible for consideration.