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MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 7, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Marriott downtown hotel in Indianapolis and the Baseball Veterans Hall of Fame press conference to announce the Veterans Committee class of 2010.
Please help me welcome our honored guests on the dais. On my right, Hall of Famer and Veteran Committee member Tom Seaver; Jeff Idelson, the president of the Baseball Hall of Fame; Jane Forbes Clark, the chairman of the board of the Baseball Hall of Fame; and Hall of Famer and Veterans Committee member Ozzie Smith.
I'd now like to turn the press conference over to Jane Forbes Clark, the chairman of the board and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Jane?
JANE FORBES CLARK: Thank you, Craig. As all of you know, yesterday two separate voting bodies, the Veterans Committee for Managers and Umpires, and the Veterans Committee for Executives and Pioneers met to discuss the merits and the contributions of 20 worthy candidates, 10 names on each of those ballots, men whose career in baseball is so exemplary that it led them to be on those two ballots.
Both committees had very intense, very frank, very open, forthright discussions about each of these candidates. The members of the Veterans Committee for Managers and Umpires consisted of Hall of Fame players Jim Bunning, Eddie Murray, Phil Niekro, Tony Perez, Robin Roberts, Ryne Sandberg, Ozzie Smith and Billy Williams; Hall of Fame managers Tom Lasorda and Dick Williams; baseball executives Jim Frye, Roland Hemond and Bob Watson; and veteran media members Tim Kurkjian, Jack O'Connell and Tom Verducci. Each committee member was permitted to vote for zero to four candidates, the ratio very similar to the one used by the BBWAA elections with 75 percent of the vote necessary for election.
This committee, the Veterans Committee for Managers and Umpires, elected two candidates to the Hall of Fame yesterday. Umpire Doug Harvey, a 31-year Big League veteran who worked five World Series and six All-Star Games, and manager Whitey Herzog, who won six division titles, three National League Pennants and the 1982 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Veterans Committee for Executives and Pioneers met also yesterday. There are 12 members of that committee. Hall of Fame players Robin Roberts and Tom Seaver; executives John Harrington, Jerry Bell, Bill DeWitt, Bill Giles, David Glass, Andy MacPhail and John Schuerholz; and veteran media members Rick Hummel, Hal McCoy and Phil Pepe. Again, each elector was permitted to vote for zero to four of the candidates, again, with 75 percent of the vote needed for election.
None of the ten candidates reviewed by this committee did earn that 75 percent yesterday afternoon, so there were no Hall of Fame members elected from that committee's meetings.
Doug and Whitey will join, as you know, any candidates that the BBWAA elects to the Hall of Fame class of 2010 in January. That announcement is January 6th. And both Doug and Whitey are coming to Indianapolis. They will be here with us tomorrow for our press conference at 11:00, and you'll have a chance to speak to them and hear them. I spoke to both of them this morning, and they are both so excited and thrilled to be members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Thank you.
THE MODERATOR: I'll turn the press conference over to Jeff Idelson, the president of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
JEFF IDELSON: We'll take your questions.

Q. Are you going to release any vote on this?
THE MODERATOR: The vote will be released via email, and also at our website, baseballhall.org.
JEFF IDELSON: On the managers and umpires, Doug Harvey got 15 out of 16; Whitey Herzog, 14 out of 16; Hank O'Day and Danny Murtaugh each received 8 out of 16 or 50 percent; Charlie Grimm, 3 out of 16; Davey Johnson, Tom Kelly, Billy Martin, Gene Mauch and Steve O'Neill each had less than three votes.
On the other side, John Fetzer had 8 out of 12; Marvin Miller and Jacob Ruppert each had 7 out of 12 or 58.3 percent; Ewing Kauffman had 6 out of 12; Gene Autry, Sam Breadon, Bob Howsam, John McHale, Gabe Paul and Bill White each had less than three votes.
JEFF IDELSON: If we don't have any questions, I'll let everybody know that Doug Harvey will not be able to be on conference call this morning because he's traveling to come to Indianapolis. Whitey Herzog will be available at 11:30 in a listen-only mode from the ballpark in St. Louis. The dial-in number for the listen-only conference call number is 800-916-9263.
THE MODERATOR: We hope you'll join us tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. when Doug Harvey and Whitey Herzog will be here to be interviewed as the newest members of the class of 2010.

End of FastScripts

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