13 Facts About Veterans Committee

Veterans Committee is the popular name of various committees of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum that elect participants other than recently retired players.

Originally, it referenced the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee to Consider Managers, Umpires, Executives and Long-Retired Players; a former voting committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame that provided an opportunity for Hall of Fame enshrinement to all individuals who are eligible for induction but ineligible for consideration by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

The term "Veterans Committee" is taken from the body's former official name: National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee on Baseball Veterans, which first met in 1953.

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 1953, the Veterans Committee met for the first time under the name Committee on Baseball Veterans.

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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.

The Veterans Committee met privately, and its ballots and voting results were generally not revealed prior to 2003.

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.

All members of the former Veterans Committee remained active until the expiration of their terms.

Only one of the former Veterans Committee members remained on the committee for the 2005 and 2007 elections, and his term expired immediately after the 2007 election.

Veterans Committee meetings scheduled for December 2020 were postponed for a year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Veterans Committee has since sought to remove his name from baseball's "Permanently Ineligible" list so he can appear on the Modern Baseball Era Committee's ballot.