Chipper Jones isn’t eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame until the Class of 2018, but the Braves still could have a member of next year’s class — John Schuerholz.
Schuerholz, the longtime former Braves general manager and president, was among 10 Hall of Fame candidates announced Monday for consideration by the “Today’s Game Era” committee (aka, veterans committee) along with former commissioner Bud Selig, the late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and Davey Johnson, Lou Piniella, Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser and Mark McGwire.
Johnson and Johnson are included for their work as managers, and the others for their accomplishments as players.
Schuerholz is a 50-year veteran of major league front offices and stepped down from the Braves president’s role in March to become vice chairman, serving in an advisory role to both the business and baseball operations sides of the team. He was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in August.
One of Atlanta’s most visible sports executives since becoming Braves general manager in 1990, Schuerholz teamed with manager Bobby Cox to guide the Braves’ unprecedented run of 15 consecutive division titles. Schuerholz moved from the GM position to team president in October 2007.
The Today’s Game Era vote will be made by a 16-member committee Dec. 5 during baseball’s Winter Meetings, and candidates who receive at least 75 percent of the votes will be announced at that time and elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
They’ll be inducted with any players elected in the regular annual balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, with the BBWAA electees to be announced on Jan. 18.
Jones is considered a lock for first-ballot Hall of Fame election for the 2018 class. Players must wait five years after they retire to be placed on the ballot.
Three former Braves – Cox and pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux — were elected in the Class of 2014, with Cox voted in by the veterans committee. Former Braves pitcher John Smoltz was in the Class of 2015, a first-ballot selection just like his former Big Three rotation mates Glavine and Smoltz.
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