TAMPA, Fla. -- In a controversial meeting that sent Ted Williams storming out of the conference room, the Veterans Committee of Baseball's Hall of Fame passed up several well-known candidates today and elected former Negro League star Ray Dandridge.
Eligibility for the honor required major-league players to have competed in at least 10 championship seasons and be retired as players for at least 23 years. Those whose careers began after 1945 must have received 100 or more votes in one or more BBWAA elections.
An affirmative vote of 75 percent was necessary for today's election. The 18-member Veterans Committee went one hour over the scheduled noon EST news conference before Hall of Fame president Ed Stack emerged from the conference room and announced Dandridge's entry into baseball's celebrated shrine.
In January, the Baseball Writers Association of America elected outfielder Billy Williams and pitcher Jim 'Catfish' Hunter to the Hall of Fame. They will be inducted in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with Dandridge on July 26.
'All members of the committee were present and we began at 9:30 a.m.,' said Stack, who also serves as secretary of the Veterans Committee. 'The reason for the long number of hours deliberating is that this committee spent a lot of time reviewing candidates. Ray Dandridge was a member of the Negro Leagues from 1933-53 and compiled an outstanding record.
'He lives in Melbourne, Fla., and he was extremely excited upon hearing the news.'
Fourteen votes were required for election and the Veterans Committee did not muster enough support for three former New York Yankee infielders who were favored to join Williams and Hunter in Cooperstown this summer. Shortstop Phil Rizzuto and second basemen Joe Gordon and Tony Lazzeri were also eligible, along with Gil Hodges and turn-of-the-century pitcher Vic Willis, who won 247 games with a lifetime ERA of 2.63.
Ted Williams fled the meeting room in a hurry and failed to stop for reporters and cameramen as they pursued him down the corridor for a comment. He was known to be a big supporter of Rizzuto.
Dandridge, 73, was a 5-foot-7, 175-pound infielder who was voted the Most Valuable Player in the American Association in 1950. Playing for Minneapolis that season, Dandridge batted .311 with 11 home runs and 80 RBI and 106 runs scored.
He started his professional career in 1933 with the Detroit Stars and also played for the Newark Dodgers, the Newark Eagles and Veracruz, Mexico City, and the New York Cubans of the Mexican League.
In 1949, he began a four-year stay in Minneapolis before moving on to Sacramento and Oakland of the Pacific Coast League in his final season in 1953, when he was 40.
Dandridge's best year might have been spent at Veracruz in 1948, when he hit .369, drove in 53 runs and scored 63 in just 88 games with the Mexican League club.
Serving on the Veterans Committee are former players Ted Williams, Roy Campanella, Monte Irvin, Charlie Gehringer, Stan Musial and Buck O'Neill, executives Buzzie Bavasi, Gabe Paul, Joe L. Brown and Bob Fishel, managers Al Lopez and Birdie Tebbetts and writers Charles Segar, Joe Reichler, Bob Broeg, Edgar Munzel, Allen Lewis and Shirley Povich.
Eligibility for the honor required major-league players to have competed in at least 10 championship seasons and be retired as players for at least 23 years. Those whose careers began after 1945 must have received 100 or more votes in one or more BBWAA elections.
An affirmative vote of 75 percent was necessary for today's election. The 18-member Veterans Committee went one hour over the scheduled noon EST news conference before Hall of Fame president Ed Stack emerged from the conference room and announced Dandridge's entry into baseball's celebrated shrine.
In January, the Baseball Writers Association of America elected outfielder Billy Williams and pitcher Jim 'Catfish' Hunter to the Hall of Fame. They will be inducted in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with Dandridge on July 26.
'All members of the committee were present and we began at 9:30 a.m.,' said Stack, who also serves as secretary of the Veterans Committee. 'The reason for the long number of hours deliberating is that this committee spent a lot of time reviewing candidates. Ray Dandridge was a member of the Negro Leagues from 1933-53 and compiled an outstanding record.
'He lives in Melbourne, Fla., and he was extremely excited upon hearing the news.'
Fourteen votes were required for election and the Veterans Committee did not muster enough support for three former New York Yankee infielders who were favored to join Williams and Hunter in Cooperstown this summer. Shortstop Phil Rizzuto and second basemen Joe Gordon and Tony Lazzeri were also eligible, along with Gil Hodges and turn-of-the-century pitcher Vic Willis, who won 247 games with a lifetime ERA of 2.63.
Ted Williams fled the meeting room in a hurry and failed to stop for reporters and cameramen as they pursued him down the corridor for a comment. He was known to be a big supporter of Rizzuto.
Dandridge, 73, was a 5-foot-7, 175-pound infielder who was voted the Most Valuable Player in the American Association in 1950. Playing for Minneapolis that season, Dandridge batted .311 with 11 home runs and 80 RBI and 106 runs scored.
He started his professional career in 1933 with the Detroit Stars and also played for the Newark Dodgers, the Newark Eagles and Veracruz, Mexico City, and the New York Cubans of the Mexican League.
In 1949, he began a four-year stay in Minneapolis before moving on to Sacramento and Oakland of the Pacific Coast League in his final season in 1953, when he was 40.
Dandridge's best year might have been spent at Veracruz in 1948, when he hit .369, drove in 53 runs and scored 63 in just 88 games with the Mexican League club.
Serving on the Veterans Committee are former players Ted Williams, Roy Campanella, Monte Irvin, Charlie Gehringer, Stan Musial and Buck O'Neill, executives Buzzie Bavasi, Gabe Paul, Joe L. Brown and Bob Fishel, managers Al Lopez and Birdie Tebbetts and writers Charles Segar, Joe Reichler, Bob Broeg, Edgar Munzel, Allen Lewis and Shirley Povich.
