The once vibrant Bay Area major-league baseball scene feels disarmingly bleak these days.
On the horizon looms a lockout threatening to delay, or potentially erase, the 2027 MLB season. In the immediate past sits a dreadful decade for the San Francisco Giants, with only one winning record in the past 10 years, and the complete disappearance of the Oakland Athletics, now muddling along in a minor-league ballpark in West Sacramento and eventually bound for Las Vegas.
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So the announcement of the latest Hall of Fame ballot counts as much needed therapy, a salve for the soul of local fans.
The ballot, which will be considered by the Contemporary Baseball Era committee Dec. 6 in San Diego, covers non-players – namely, those who made an impact as managers, umpires or executives. This year’s list of candidates resurrects the Bay Area’s rich history on the diamond.
Four of the eight men on the ballot did their most meaningful work here: former Giants managers Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy, and onetime general managers Brian Sabean (Giants) and Sandy Alderson (A’s). The other four nominees also bring strong credentials, from successful managers Lou Piniella and Joe Maddon to longtime Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner and former National League President Bill White.
At the risk of sounding provincial, the conversation starts with Baker and Bochy.
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They should count as locks to earn induction into the Hall next summer, in what shapes up as a Giants-flavored class of 2027. Buster Posey and Miguel Cabrera headline the newcomers slated to appear on the Baseball Writers’ Association ballot (for players), which will be unveiled later this month and with results announced in January.
Baker and Bochy offer a link to much better days, when the Giants not only won but were highly entertaining. Baker guided his maiden team to 103 wins in 1993 and posted 90-plus victories four other times, culminating in a trip to the 2002 World Series.
That didn’t end well, of course, and Baker departed on a meandering managerial odyssey. He ultimately took five franchises to the postseason (Giants, Cubs, Reds, Nationals, Astros) and finally secured his elusive championship with Houston in 2022.
Baker finished with 2,183 regular-season wins, eighth on the all-time list. He made 13 postseason appearances, more than all but three managers in major-league history – and Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre are already enshrined in Cooperstown.
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So, yes, Baker will get in.
Bochy will join him, if for no other reason than he earned four World Series championships as a manager (three with the Giants and one with Texas). Just three managers won more titles – and Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel and Connie Mack long ago landed their spots in the Hall.
Bochy’s total of 2,252 victories puts him sixth all-time, even if he has an overall losing record (2,266 defeats). All but two of the top 10 managers in all-time wins are in the Hall, and the exceptions are Bochy and Baker.
That will get fixed soon.
But the ballot math becomes tricky after Baker and Bochy, and here’s why: The 16 members on the Contemporary Baseball Era committee can each vote for three candidates, and earning election requires at least 75% of the votes (or 12).
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If Baker and Bochy are unanimous choices, a plausible scenario, that leaves only 16 available votes for the other six nominees. Even if Baker and Bochy each receive, say, 14 votes, that leaves just 20 available votes.
Translation: The chances of Sabean or Alderson also going into the Hall seem extraordinarily slim.
That’s unfortunate, because their impact on the game was profound. Sabean helped sign and develop several players who pushed the New York Yankees to four championships in a five-year span (1996-2000). Then he built the Giants teams, managed by Bochy, that won three titles in five years (2010, ’12 and ’14).
Alderson constructed the A’s powerhouse of the late 1980s and early ’90s, which won four division titles, three American League pennants and one World Series (1989). He also helped guide the Padres and Mets to postseason berths, but those mighty A’s – baseball’s marquee team for three years running, despite Series pratfalls in 1988 and ’90 – marked Alderson’s signature achievement.
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It’s difficult to see how either Sabean or Alderson will pick up enough votes to reach the 75% threshold. Piniella justifiably will land support, especially after twice missing out in previous attempts by one vote. White, an accomplished player and broadcaster before his stint as NL president, also figures to collect some votes.
Maddon and Turner are solid candidates, too. It’s a stacked ballot, plain and simple. (Worth noting: Former Chronicle sports editor Glenn Schwarz and current Chronicle baseball writer Susan Slusser were on the Historical Overview Committee that put together this year’s ballot.) Three years ago, for historical precedent, Jim Leyland got 15 of the possible 16 votes, Piniella collected 11 and White had 10. That meant only Leyland rejoiced.
So it’s entirely reasonable if just Baker and Bochy emerge from this group. As we’ve noted before with players on the BBWAA ballot, it’s supposed to be crazy hard to reach the Hall of Fame. That’s what makes it special. Exclusivity equals prestige.
In this case, the prestige will carry an unmistakable Bay Area touch, allowing us all to reflect on a time when major-league baseball resonated in these parts.
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This article originally published at Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy belong in Hall of Fame, offer a link to happier days in Bay Area baseball.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
