2022 Golden Days Era Ballot
Nine former big league players and one manager comprise the 10-name Golden Days Era ballot to be reviewed and voted upon Dec. 5 at the Baseball Winter Meetings.
Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Roger Maris, Minnie Miñoso, Danny Murtaugh, Tony Oliva, Billy Pierce and Maury Wills are the candidates the Golden Days Era Committee will consider for Hall of Fame election for the Class of 2022. All candidates are former players except for Murtaugh, who was a manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kaat, Oliva and Wills are living, while all other candidates are deceased.
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Any candidate who receives votes on 75 percent of the ballots cast by the 16-member Golden Days Era Committee will earn election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 24, 2022, along with any electees who emerge from the Early Baseball Era Committee election and the 2022 Baseball Writers’ Association of America election, to be announced on Jan. 25, 2022.
The Golden Days Era is one of four Era Committees, each of which provide an avenue for Hall of Fame consideration to managers, umpires and executives, as well as players retired for more than 15 seasons. The Golden Days Era Committee considers candidates whose primary contribution to the game came from 1950-69.
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Candidate Bios
Dick Allen
A seven-time All-Star who won the 1964 National League Rookie of the Year Award and the 1972 American League Most Valuable Player Award. Dick Allen played 15 seasons with the Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, White Sox and Athletics. He finished his career with a a .292 batting average, 351 home runs and 1,119 RBI, with a .378 on-base percentage and a .534 slugging percentage. He led his league in slugging percentage three times and on-base percentage twice. From 1964-69 – during one of the most pitching-dominated eras in big league history – Allen averaged better than 29 home runs and 90 RBI per season.
Ken Boyer
An 11-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove Award winner at third base, Ken Boyer played 15 seasons for the Cardinals, Mets, White Sox and Dodgers. After averaging almost 26 home runs and 98 RBI per season from 1958-63, Boyer had his best year in 1964 – hitting .295 with 24 home runs and an NL-best 119 RBI en route to National League Most Valuable Player honors. Boyer powered the Cardinals to the pennant that year, and in the Fall Classic he hit two homers and drove in six runs – including a home run and three runs scored in the decisive Game 7 win over the Yankees. His final totals: 2,143 hits, 282 home runs, 1,104 runs scored and 1,141 RBI with a .287 batting average.
Gil Hodges
An eight-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove Award winner at first base, Gil Hodges played 18 seasons for the Dodgers and Mets. From 1949-57, Hodges averaged 32 home runs and 108 RBI per season. During those seasons, the Dodgers won five National League pennants and the 1955 World Series title. His peak as a power hitter came on Aug. 31, 1950, when Hodges became just the second modern-era National League player to hit four home runs in one game. Hodges also played for the 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers that won the World Series and later managed the 1969 Mets to the Fall Classic title. He finished his playing career with 370 homers, 1,274 RBI and a .273 batting average.
Jim Kaat
A three-time All-Star, three-time 20-game winner and the owner of 16 Gold Glove Awards, Jim Kaat pitched 25 seasons for the Senators/Twins, White Sox, Phillies, Yankees and Cardinals. A member of the Cardinals 1982 World Championship team, Kaat finished his career with 283 wins, a 3.45 ERA, 625 games started and 180 complete games. He ranks 17th all-time in games started and is one of only 10 pitchers whose career began after 1900 to appear in big league games in four decades.
Roger Maris
A two-time American League Most Valuable Player, Roger Maris played 12 big league seasons with the Indians, Athletics, Yankees and Cardinals. Maris set the single-season home run record in 1961, the second straight season where he was named the AL MVP. A seven-time All-Star and a Gold Glove Award winner in the outfield in 1960, Maris finished with 275 home runs and 850 RBI, helping the Yankees win World Series titles in 1961 and 1962 and the Cardinals capture the crown in 1967.
Minnie Miñoso
A nine-time American League All-Star who played 20 seasons with the Athletics, White Sox, Indians, Cardinals and Senators, Minnie Miñoso became the first acknowledged dark-skinned Latin player in AL or NL history in 1949. In what amounted to 14 full big league seasons, Miñoso hit better than .300 eight times, captured three Gold Glove Awards and led the league in getting hit by pitches 10 times. He retired with a .298 career batting average, including 1,963 hits, 1,136 runs, 1,023 RBI and 205 stolen bases.
Danny Murtaugh
In 15 seasons with the Pirates, Danny Murtaugh managed Pittsburgh to four National League East titles, two NL pennants and World Series wins in 1960 and 1971. Murtaugh skippered four different stints with the Pirates, establishing himself as a players' manager while battling a heart condition that forced him to resign three different times. He fielded the first all-Black/Hispanic lineup in big league history on Sept. 1, 1971. Murtaugh compiled a 1,115-950 record with five first-place finishes.
Tony Oliva
A three-time American League batting champion and eight-time All-Star, Tony Oliva played 15 seasons, all for the Minnesota Twins. Bursting onto the scene as the American League Rookie of the Year in 1964, Oliva hit an AL-best .323 and led the league in runs (109), hits (217), doubles (43) and total bases (374). He led the league in hitting again in 1965 with a .321 average and finished second in the AL MVP voting while helping Minnesota win the AL pennant. Oliva led the AL in hits five times and won his third batting title in 1971, the same year he suffered a severe knee injury that would cost him almost all of the 1972 season and hinder him throughout his final years in the big leagues. Oliva retired from baseball following the 1976 season with a career .304 batting average, 1,917 hits, 329 doubles, 220 home runs and 947 RBI.
Billy Pierce
A seven-time All-Star and two-time 20-game winner, Billy Pierce pitched 18 seasons for the Tigers, White Sox and Giants. Signed as a 17-year-old by the Tigers as an amateur free agent prior to the 1945 season, Pierce came of age with the White Sox in the mid-1950s, leading the AL in complete games three times and ERA once. He helped the White Sox and Giants win pennants in 1959 and 1962, respectively, and finished his career with a 211-169 record, 1,999 strikeouts, 193 complete games, 38 shutouts and a 3.27 ERA .
Maury Wills
A seven-time All-Star and the 1962 National League Most Valuable Player, Maury Wills played 14 seasons for the Dodgers, Pirates and Expos. Wills stabilized the Dodgers' infielder as a rookie shortstop in 1959, helping Los Angeles to the World Series title. The following season, Wills won the first of six straight NL stolen base titles. He broke Ty Cobb's modern era record with 104 steals in 1962, helped the Dodgers to a World Series title in 1963 and then stole 94 bases in 1965 as the Dodgers won their third Fall Classic in seven seasons. Wills retired following the 1972 season with two Gold Glove Awards, a career batting average of .281, 1,067 runs scored, 2,134 hits and 586 stolen bases. His career total in steals ranks 20th all-time. Wills remained in the game after his playing days as a broadcaster and later managed the Seattle Mariners in 1980 and 1981, becoming just the third Black manager to hold a big league managerial job.
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Induction Weekend 2022 will be held July 22-25, with the Induction Ceremony at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 24, on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown.