Baseball Hall of Fame ‘Very Happy’ With Voting Process, President Says; No Changes Planned (Exclusive)

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Adjacent to the two most recent Baseball Hall of Fame members’ bronze plaques — for Fred McGriff and Scott Rolen — are four blank wall panels. One of those four placeholders is reserved for veteran manager Jim Leyland’s plaque, as the 79-year-old will be inducted this summer during the annual Cooperstown ceremonies honoring the sport’s greats.

As for those other three empty spots on the oak wall in the Hall’s hallowed Plaque Gallery — maybe an early indication that there will be three new players elected to the Cooperstown class of 2024?

“I never thought of it that way,” Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch said with a laugh on a recent morning. “But no, that’s just how each section is prepared.” 

On January 23, Rawitch will announce the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) 2024 ballot results, and fans will find out for real who joins Leyland and the 342 other previously-elected Hall of Famers who have earned baseball’s highest honor. Dominican-born third baseman Adrián Beltré — who played for four teams and amassed 3,166 hits — appears likely to get elected in his first year of eligibility. Will holdovers like Todd Helton, Billy Wagner and Andruw Jones finally reach the 75% vote threshold needed for election? Will three-time American League MVP Alex Rodriguez continue to trend toward the fate of his steroid-stained contemporaries, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, players who were snubbed from Cooperstown because voters believe they are cheaters?

Regardless of the final tally, the Hall of Fame results are certain to spark fan euphoria and outrage, and spirited arguments that the voting process is flawed. But amid the public din, Rawitch says don’t look for an overhaul anytime soon, because in the Hall’s view, the voting process — both the baseball writers’ and Era (veterans) Committee ballots — works.

“I think we’re very happy with the way the process stands, because we still have close to 400 writers who are weighing in,” said Rawitch. “What we love about it is, we don’t tell them how to vote. We let them make the decision. What I also love is that there’s a second process, the Era Committee, which really kind of acts as a checks and balances, and anybody who slips between the cracks gets another chance. It’s a great balance system, and it allows us not to be judge and jury.

“It’s supposed to be a hard standard,” Rawitch adds. “We don’t want it to be easy to get in.”

While he opined on the annual Hall of Fame debate during an interview with The Messenger, and the process with which candidacies are considered, Rawitch paused to check a call on his Apple Watch. The person on the other end was in discussions with Rawitch about the loan of a Jackie Robinson uniform to be included in the Hall’s Black Baseball Initiative, which includes a forthcoming exhibit called The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball. 

“Pretty cool,” said Rawitch, 47.

Now in his third year at the helm of the Cooperstown baseball shrine, Rawitch has already hit his stride, balancing the myriad responsibilities that come with the position. He is equal parts captain overseeing the business operations of a non-profit (with about 90 full-time staffers and 100 part-timers); the public face of the Hall of Famers — “I’m in touch with a Hall of Famer almost every day, by phone, text or email”; and a principal cog in the Hall’s development team, for which Rawitch often criss-crosses the country to help raise money and meet with “people who have the ability to change this place for the better.” 

“I don’t think most people realize we’re a non-profit. People think we’re funded by Major League Baseball,” said Rawitch. “We can probably do more when it comes to [development]. I think we’ll be able to fundraise larger numbers over time.”

Rawitch’s path to Cooperstown president began more than two decades ago, when he was a Los Angeles Dodgers marketing intern. He later switched to communications with help from his Dodgers boss at the time, Derrick Hall, then a senior executive. Rawitch was with the Dodgers more than a decade before Hall, who by then was an Arizona Diamondbacks executive, brought Rawitch from Chavez Ravine to the desert. Hall is currently the Diamondbacks’ chief executive officer.

“He has been a big influence,” Rawitch said of Hall.

While with Arizona in 2018, Rawitch received the Robert O. Fishel Award for Public Relations Excellence. A year later Jeff Idelson, then the Hall of Fame president, told Rawitch that his name was on the radar of the Hall’s search committee, and that Idelson was going to step down after his long tenure. Tim Mead, a Los Angeles Angels executive, ultimately succeeded Idelson in 2019, but Mead, too, stepped down only two years later.

Rawitch said one of the biggest question marks when he considered the Hall president position was whether he could sway his wife, Erin, and their two children to move to Norman Rockwell-esque, small town Cooperstown. Turns out, Rawitch’s wife didn’t need much convincing, even though it’s a five-hour drive to New York City, with traffic.

“My wife is from Long Island. I’ll never forget, she was like, ‘How would you ever turn that down if you got offered that position?’ The reality is, you don’t,” said Rawitch. “It’s such a unique and incredible place to work. I give her and my kids insane credit for diving into life here. They’ve bought in, we’ve all bought in. We love this place.”

Baseball fans love Cooperstown, too, yet Rawitch said there are significant challenges with stoking younger fans’ interest in a sport that lags well behind the NFL and NBA in popularity. To that end, Rawitch said the Hall is constantly trying to improve the overall experience, by catering to younger generations born into the digital age, but not disrupting what older baseball fans enjoy when they visit Cooperstown. 

“No matter what we do, we can’t lose sight of the fact that we’re a mission-driven organization. We’re here to preserve the history of the sport,” said Rawitch. “The challenge is balancing this amazing place that’s been around for 85 years with a changing audience of baseball fans in different ways.”

Rawitch said before the pandemic, Cooperstown was averaging around 270,000 visitors a year, but that 2020 knocked those numbers down significantly. This year, he said, attendance numbers may reach a robust stage again. A big component of the surge in visitors has come through youth baseball tournaments staged at nearby Cooperstown Dreams Park and Cooperstown All-Star Village.

“Every week [when the tournaments are underway], thousands of families are coming specifically to watch their 12-year-old kid play baseball, but they all make a trip to the Hall at some point while they’re here,” said Rawitch.

And when kids arrive at the Hall of Fame, there are newer, interactive additions to the museum experience designed to engage those generations hip to earpods and screens: young fans can personalize their own Hall of Fame plaque at a kiosk near the entrance; QR codes are posted throughout the main building to enhance the tour experience; there are new museum stops like the Savannah Bananas exhibit, and Rawitch said when the Bananas, a barnstorming exhibition team similar to basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters, played at Cooperstown’s Doubleday Field last September, they sold out the stadium. 

Rawitch added that the Hall’s digital content group even created a TikTok account. Yes, older baseball fans may lament, “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?” but Rawitch said America’s pastime, like any sport, has to adapt to the times.

“Those sorts of things I think you can do without changing the core of who we are, which is preserving baseball history, telling these incredible stories,” said Rawitch.

One such story plays out in his Hall office, where Rawitch’s desk is stationed near an enlarged photograph from July 24, 1911, taken at League Park in Cleveland. The photo shows a line of players who gathered to play a tribute game for the family of pitcher Addie Joss. The Cleveland Naps pitcher, Joss, had died of meningitis only a few months earlier, and Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Walter Johnson were among the stars of that day who played in the game and are featured in the image. 

Jack Graney, who later became the first batter to face Babe Ruth as a pitcher (in 1914), is featured at both ends of the photo, as he was able to sneak behind the photographer and stand in place on the opposite side of the player line before the photo was complete.

Aside from the Hall’s main gallery with the bronze plaques, the three-story building is home to more than 40,000 items (baseballs, bats, caps, uniforms, and more) and roughly three million documents. A vast amount of that trove is stored in a temperature- and light-controlled storage room in the basement, which is not accessible to the public. 

But items are rotated through different exhibits, and fans with Hall memberships can see unique artifacts up close in separate exhibits. One such recent display had a Lou Gehrig 1939 jersey, batting gloves worn by Derek Jeter when he broke Gehrig’s New York Yankees team hits record and a baseball cap worn by Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente underneath his batting helmet when Clemente belted his 3,000th (and last) major league hit. 

If the Hall of Fame building needs to expand, Rawitch said there is plenty of room in the Plaque Gallery and in the main museum building to fulfill future needs, and that the empty building adjacent to the Hall is already under its ownership and available, too. Still, there are regular discussions with the Hall board members about how to address space needs, Rawitch said. 

Asked if the Hall of Fame is aligned or distant with the ever-growing memorabilia industry, Rawitch said that the Hall doesn’t consider collectors the enemy. 

“I think ultimately what we want to do is document the history of the game,” said Rawitch. 

“I don’t begrudge anybody that wants to make money off the things that are theirs. But what we’re dealing with is really cool, historic artifacts. When I tell a player, like I did with [the Texas Rangers second baseman] Marcus Semien — ‘Your grandkids are going to come here and see a jersey of yours.’ — they’re not thinking, how much can I make by selling it? They’re thinking about their legacy in baseball.”

Rawitch said he plans to contact Hall of Fame left-hander Randy Johnson, who is friends with Rush lead singer Geddy Lee. Much of the rock legend’s vast baseball memorabilia collection was up for auction last year, but Rawitch said it’s worth exploring to see if Lee would donate any items he still owns to the Hall.  

The legacies of Bonds and Clemens, the home run king and seven-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher, respectively, are recognized in the Hall of Fame Museum, despite both men not being elected to the Hall by either the writers or Era Committee members. A separate exhibit delves into the PED issue directly, complete with an interactive screen for fans to weigh in with their opinion.

Three-time World Series champion and postseason pitching stud Curt Schilling also came up short for a Cooperstown plaque in both voting processes, but visitors can see Schilling’s postseason dominance in displays of the 2001 World Series and 2004 ALCS, when he pitched for the Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox. 

While Bonds’ and Clemens’ snubs may be attributed to their PED links, Schilling’s omission may have more to do with his outspoken views. 

Players remain on the BBWAA ballot for 10 years maximum, and one of the criteria writers are given for judging a candidate is the character clause. It is an element of the voting process that has also drawn criticism, but Rawitch said if the Hall were to intervene and change the voting criteria, that might create a new imbroglio.

“I think if we’re going to start telling people how to define ‘character’ and ‘integrity’ and ‘sportsmanship,’ then why do we need other people to do the voting?” he asked. “Ultimately, we believe in the base of people [voting] and the history that they have to help make these determinations. And I don’t think, personally, that it’s too vague. I think it’s actually right where it should be.

“It’s guided this process for years. When you come in the front door of [the Hall of Fame] lobby, you see three statues [Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente] representing character and courage,” Rawitch added. “It does matter to us and to the sport that those things are a part of who we are. We respect it. Different people see that in different ways, and that’s the beauty of America.”

And then there is all-time hit king Pete Rose (4,256 career hits) and 1919 Chicago Black Sox player Shoeless Joe Jackson, both of whom are banned from baseball for life after gambling on the game. Rose, 82, has applied for reinstatement several times, but both current commissioner Rob Manfred and his predecessor, Bud Selig, rejected Rose’s applications. 

“The way our rules are currently set up is that if you’re not eligible in the eyes of Major League Baseball, you aren't eligible to get into the Hall of Fame,” said Rawitch. “That rule has been in place for several decades here and it’s not something we’re currently looking at. Ultimately it’s probably for the commissioner to decide whether he ever feels it’s important to let Pete back into the game in an active role. There’s no doubt his story is told here. His greatness is going to live on in the artifacts that are throughout the museum.”

While walking through the museum’s exhibits, Rawitch stopped to admire a photograph of Kirk Gibson’s famous Dodgers World Series home run off Oakland A’s closer and Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley in Game 1. Rawitch, a Los Angeles kid, was 12 when he watched Gibson and the Dodgers win it all in 1988. Later he would work alongside Gibson when the latter managed the Diamondbacks. A full-circle moment, and one that Rawitch hopes to channel in his current role, while he works to grow the Hall of Fame brand and mission. 

“Ultimately, one of our strategic, long-term goals is, how do we create a relationship with people that starts when they’re 8 and ends when they pass it to the next generation?” asked Rawitch. “There’s no reason we can’t be on people’s minds from the very first time they fall in love with the game until the time they leave earth. We’re trying to get the Hall of Fame off people’s bucket list and onto their to-do list, and then engage them forever. I think that’s very doable.”