Days after Craig Biggio, John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez, and Randy Johnson were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the voting process to decide who gets into Cooperstown has received a major change.
The Hall of Fame is making the Baseball Writers Association of America, the writing fraternity that has made selections since the first class in 1936, take ballots away from any member who hasn't actively covered baseball in 10 years, the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced on Tuesday. America's pastime is going out with the old and in with the new.
Before Tuesday's changes, this was not the BBWAA way.
In the past, a writer would earn a Hall of Fame vote, first after being a part of the BBWAA for 10 years, and then he or she would keep that vote for life. Not anymore.
Certainly questions will pop up on these new rules and answers will be made, but the biggest factor is getting rid of baseball detachment for voters.
As the Hall gets more and more complicated with new players becoming eligible for election, baseball is making sure to stay up to date. In this case, the sport is trying to go addition by subtraction.
Members of the BBWAA will still control sole rights to voting. Below is a full statement from the Hall of Fame on the changes:
Hall of Fame voter roll purge ... pic.twitter.com/VeKTyEnizr
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) July 28, 2015
