Editing Veterans Committee (section)

==History==
{{more citations needed|section|date=January 2021}}
[[File:Landis Ruth Meusel.png|thumb|right|upright=.8|[[Kenesaw Mountain Landis]] (center), with [[Babe Ruth]] (left) and [[Bob Meusel]]]]
[[File:Frisch Fordham photo.png|thumb|right|upright=.8|[[Frankie Frisch]] as a player, c.1919]]
[[File:Bill Mazeroski at Forbes Field - October 13, 2010.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.8|[[Bill Mazeroski]] was elected by the Veterans Committee in 2001.]]

The Veterans Committee can be traced back to 1939 when [[Commissioner of Baseball]] [[Kenesaw Mountain Landis]] formed the Old-Timers Committee to consider players from the 19th century for induction to the Hall of Fame. In 1939, the committee selected five players. In 1944, shortly after Landis' death, the committee voted him into the Hall via a [[1944 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|special election]]. Landis was the 28th person inducted to the Hall—over the next several years, the committee added 23 more: 10 in 1945, 11 in 1946, and 2 in 1949.
 
In 1953, the Veterans Committee met for the first time under the name Committee on Baseball Veterans. In its first voting, the 11-member committee elected six players to the Hall. Starting in 1955, they would meet to elect up to two players in odd-numbered years. In 1959, [[Lee Allen (baseball)|Lee Allen]] succeeded [[Ernest Lanigan]] as Hall of Fame historian. According to [[Bill James]], Paul Kerr (president of the Hall of Fame from 1961 to 1978) would generally convince the committee to select players that Allen suggested to him, until Allen's death in 1969. In 1961, the Veterans Committee expanded from 11 to 12 members. In 1962, the Veterans Committee went back to annual elections to the Hall of Fame, with the continued mandate to elect up to two players a year. In 1971, the Veterans Committee made seven selections; partly in response to such a large class, the Veterans Committee was then limited to selecting two players and one non-player every year.

[[Frankie Frisch]], a 1947 inductee to the Hall, was a major voice on the committee in the 1970s. Backed by former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer [[Bill Terry]] and sportswriters [[J. Roy Stockton]] and [[Fred Lieb]], who had covered Frisch's teams, he managed to get five of his teammates elected to the Hall by the committee between 1970 and 1973: [[Jesse Haines]], [[Dave Bancroft]], [[Chick Hafey]], [[Ross Youngs]], and [[George Kelly (baseball)|George Kelly]].<ref name=jaffe/> Additionally, in the three years after his death, two more teammates ([[Jim Bottomley]] and [[Freddie Lindstrom]]) were elected.<ref name=jaffe>{{cite news|url=http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=11592|title=Prospectus Hit and Run: Don't Call it the Veterans' Committee|first=Jay|last=Jaffe|work=[[Baseball Prospectus]]|publisher=Prospectus Entertainment Ventures, LLC|date=July 28, 2010|access-date=November 3, 2011}}</ref> After Frisch died and Terry left the committee, elections were normalized.

After the 1977 election, the Veterans Committee was limited to two selections overall per year. In 1978, membership increased to 15 members; five Hall of Famers, five owners and executives, and five sportswriters. The members would meet in Florida during spring training to elect a player or two every year. The Veterans Committee mandate of up to two players was increased briefly from 1995 to 2001. In these years, the committee could elect one extra player from the [[Negro leagues]] and one from the 19th century in addition to the two regular players.

Starting in 1995, the Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to elect as many as two executives, managers, umpires, and older major league players—the categories considered in all its meetings since 1953. By a new arrangement it separately considered candidates from the Negro leagues and from the 19th century with authority to select one from each of those, via two special ballots. The older players eligible were those with ten major league seasons beginning 1946 or earlier; those who received at least 100 votes from the BBWAA in some election up to 1992; and those who received at least 60% support in some election beginning 1993. Players on Major League Baseball's ineligible list could not be elected. The committee could elect up to four people each year.

During much of its existence, the Veterans Committee consisted of 15 members selected by the Hall of Fame for defined terms. A six-man subcommittee of this group met as a screening committee to determine who would be on the ballot. The committee met annually to consider candidates in four separate categories: players, managers, umpires, and executives. The Veterans Committee met privately, and its ballots and voting results were generally not revealed prior to 2003. From the mid-1970s until 2001, the top candidate in each category was elected to the Hall of Fame if he earned at least 75% of the committee's votes.

The Board of Directors reformed the system radically with new rules enacted in August 2001. Formerly, 15 members were appointed to limited terms; the new Veterans Committee would comprise all living members of the Hall, plus recipients of the Spink and Frick awards to writers and broadcasters. In particular, the new members were 61 living Hall of Famers, 13 living recipients of the [[J. G. Taylor Spink Award]], 13 living recipients of the [[Ford C. Frick Award]], and three members of the previous committee with terms that had not yet expired. Elections for players retired more than 20 years would be held every other year and elections for (managers, umpires and executives) would be held every fourth year. The first cycle for both categories would be in 2002 and 2003 for induction in 2003.