First of all congratulations to the Hall of Fame Class of 2018. On the day that the 2018 Hall of Class was filled out adding Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Vlad Guerrero, and Trevor Hoffman to Jack Morris and Alan Trammell, a great article appeared n Yahoo Sports. 

In Rob Neyer’s article, “Marvin Miller is the poster boy for a larger Baseball Hall of Fame dilemma“, he proposes that the Hall of Fame should create a Pioneers Committee to address the Hall’s “problem with people who made enormous, perhaps revolutionary contributions to baseball, but don’t quite fit into one of the traditional boxes.”

If the Hall truly is dedicated to their mission, “Honoring, by enshrinement, those individuals who had exceptional careers, and recognizing others for their significant achievements”, the Pioneer Committee would be a great way to address the void Neyer refers to in his article. 

It would be great if this idea were introduced this year or next. It would provide an earlier opportunity to have Doc Adams receive his long overdue recognition. Otherwise, Doc’s next time on  the ballot is the 2020 Early Baseball ballot with hopeful enshrinement in 2021.