Phillies Gillick Named to HOF Committee

Former Phillies club president and GM Pat Gillick has been named to the Baseball Hall of Fame Pre-Integration Era Committee.

The 16-member committee will vote on December 7th at the Winter Meetings on the ten candidates nominated by yet another committee for possible Hall selection.

Making up the list of ten are a half-dozen players, three executives, and an organizer from the early days of the sport.

Those ten candidates were selected by a Historical Overview Committee appointed by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Eligible candidates include players who played in at least 10 major league seasons, are not on Major League Baseball’s ineligible list, and have been retired for 21 or more seasons; and Managers, Umpires and Executives with 10 or more years in baseball whose most significant career impact was realized during the time period from baseball’s origins through 1946

The ten players nominated this year are:

Doc Adams, who was that early organizer. He began to play baseball in 1839 with the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in New York, one of the earliest recognized organized clubs.

Sam Breadon owned the Saint Louis Cardinals for 27 years, presiding over nine National League pennants and six World Series winners. He funded and worked with Branch Rickey to build the first great minor league system for the Cards.

Bill Dahlen is a 19th century player who was named by MLB’s official historian John Thorn as one of the 140 best players of all-time in his 1984 book “The Hidden Game of Baseball.”

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Wes Ferrell was a righty pitcher who won 193 games and was runner-up for the 1935 AL MVP Award when he won 25 games for the Boston Red Sox. He was known for a volatile temper, but also as a fantastic hitting pitcher.

Garry Herrmann was president of the Cincinnati Reds from 1902-1927 and chairman of the National Commission that governed baseball from 1903 until the appointment of the first Commissioner in 1920.

Marty Marion had 1,448 hits over 13 seasons in Saint Louis, 11 with the Cardinals and two with the Browns, mostly spanning the 1940’s. He was a seven-time NL All-Star, and was the 1945 National League Most Valuable Player.

Frank McCormick was a star player with the Cincinnati Reds, with his best years during those same 1940’s. An eight-time NL All-Star, he was the 1940 National League Most Valuable Player.

Harry Stovey was a Philly native who was also one of the great late-19th century players, accumulating 1,771 hits and stealing 509 bases during the seasons in which that stat was recorded.

Chris von der Ahe was born in Prussia, emigrated to America in the 1880’s, and rose from a small business owner to become owner of the Saint Louis Brown Stockings, now the Cardinals, who quickly dominated the old American Association.

Bucky Walters won 198 games on the mound, most of those for the 1940’s era Cincinnati Reds. He was a six-time NL All-Star, and the 1939 National League Most Valuable Player.

Gillick is himself a Hall of Fame enshrinee for his front office work, which includes guiding the Toronto Blue Jays to back-to-back World Series victories in 1992 and 1993, and the Phillies to the 2008 World Series victory.

Currently, Gillick is serving in an advisory capacity to the organization, mostly focusing on the top prospects available for the 2016 MLB Amateur Draft, for which the Phillies have the top overall selection.