On April 22, 2022, The National Baseball Hall of Fame again announced a restructuring of their Era committees.

Per the Hall’s announcement:

Highlighting these changes is a consolidation of eras into two timeframes – the Contemporary Baseball Era, consisting of the period from 1980 to present day, and the Classic Baseball Era, consisting of the period prior to 1980 and including Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues stars. The Contemporary Baseball Era will split into two separate ballots – one ballot to consider only players who made their greatest impact on the game since 1980, and another composite ballot consisting of managers, executives and umpires whose greatest contributions to the game have come since 1980.

Each of these three Era Committees – the Contemporary Baseball Era player ballot, the Contemporary Baseball Era non-player ballot, and the Classic Baseball Era composite ballot – will rotate on an annual basis, with each ballot consisting of eight candidates.

Eras considered for yearly election are as follows: December 2022 (for Class of 2023) – Contemporary Baseball/Players; December 2023 (for Class of 2024) – Contemporary Baseball/Managers-Umpires-Executives; December 2024 (for Class of 2025) – Classic Baseball. This cycle will repeat every three years, with Contemporary Baseball/Players eligible for consideration again in December 2025 for the Class of 2026.

National Baseball Hall of Fame

The good news is that rather than 2032, Doc Adams will be eligible for the Class of 2025 (the December 2024 ballot. The bad news is that he will be in an even larger pool making it even more difficult. Hopefully, this true pioneer of the game will be given the same consideration some much lesser contributors have been given previously. #DocAdamsHOF2025!!!

The full announcement can be read here.

A positive from the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s announcement about restructuring their Era Committees is that the new Classic Baseball Era Committee will meet every 3 years starting In December of 2024 (for the Class of 2025). This means that Doc Adams is now eligible to be considered for the Class of 2025. That’s great news. However, as if the composition of the Historical Overview Committees that develop the ballots, a lack of appropriate attention focused on early pioneers of the game, and additional hurdles chronicled by others, aren’t enough, buried in the details of the restructuring announcement are some additional aspects that will undoubtedly make it even more challenging for Doc to get elected.

• The Early Baseball Era Committee considered individuals whose primary contributions occurred prior to 1950. The new Classic Baseball Era Committee time covered will be expanded to include the period up to 1980. That represents an increased timeframe of about 30%. With the additional years of 1951-1979, the number of eligible candidates will be increased by an even greater percentage and unlike the Contemporary Baseball Era Committees, both players and non-players will be considered together.
• The size of the ballot will be reduced by 20% from 10 to 8.
• The maximum number of individuals each Committee member can vote for on their ballot will be reduced by 25% from 4 to 3.

Some quick, rough math (which therefore may be off a bit) seems to show, all things being equal, the odds be being elected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee will be about half of those for the former Early Baseball Era Committee.

So, although it is exciting that the cycle has changed for the better, the mountain that he needs to climb has grown.

So, we will continue our efforts to raise awareness of Doc Adams and his contributions, count on the Committee to do its homework objectively and without bias, and continue to hope that Doc will finally (sooner rather than later) receive his LONG, LONG overdue recognition as a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.