On Sunday, December 8th at the Winter Meetings in San Diego, Cooperstown president Tim Mead announced the voting results of the Hall of Fame Modern Baseball Committee. The committee enshrined 2 new inductees, before the main writers ballot gets announced on the 21st of January.The first inductee, Marvin Miller, is the former executive director of the Players Association, and ultimately changed the game forever. The reason sports have free agency and baseball has one of the strongest unions in the United States. For the full candidacy of Marvin Miller and just how influential he is, read here.

Ted Simmons, the only player elected by the committee, is also overdue. At the most valuable defensive position, and the most demanding, he was a stellar offensive performer for a long time. He retired the all-time hit leader among catchers (2,472), posted a 50.3 WAR and hit 248 HR over 21 seasons with the Cardinals, Brewers and Braves. An 8-time All-Star, he hit to a .285/.348/.437 slashline. He drove in 1,389 runs and walked more times in his career than he struck out (855 BB to 694 K).

The two inductees will be enshrined on July 26th, 2020. Simmons got 13/16 votes, an 81% share. This is just 2 years after he missed enshrinement by a mere one vote. Miller, however, gets in on a 12/16 threshold, exactly the mandated 75% for induction. Lou Whitaker and Steve Garvey got half of the 12 minimum votes, with 6 a piece. Dwight Evans finished with 8/12 and Dave Parker 7/12.

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