The 16-man Contemporary Baseball Era Committee elected a newest member into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown Sunday night. Out of eight nominations, Jim Leyland was the only new selectee, receiving 15 votes.
The former Pirates, Tigers, Marlins, and Rockies manager spent 22 total years at the helm as a manager. He totaled 1,769 wins, the 18th most in major-league history. Of those wins, 851 came with the Pirates and 700 with the Tigers. Leyland captured three pennants and won one World Series back in 1997 with the Florida Marlins.
The most notable of the rest of the nominations was former New York Mets’ manager Davey Johnson. Earlier today at Metsmerized our very own Brian Wright made a compelling argument as to why Johnson should have been voted in. Unfortunately, he received less than five votes and was left out.
To get enshrined by the committee a nomination needed at least 12 votes from the 16-man panel. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Lou Piniella was the next closest at 11 votes. Bill White received 10 while the rest of the nominations, including Johnson, Cito Gaston, Ed Montague, Hank Peters, and Joe West, received less than five.
