Baseball Hall of Famer Paul Molitor says that the process for inducting new members of the Hall of Fame is due for an overhaul. Molitor, who went in to Cooperstown on the first ballot back in 2004, was in Waterloo yesterday as part of the Minnesota Twins Winter Caravan.
Molitor says that it’s time to change how people are chosen for the Hall. “I think the system needs to be tweaked for a few reasons, number won with the overload of the ballot because of certain circumstances such as PED’s and other issues have gotten it really crowded,” Molitor says. He says it’s a problem to limit voters to 10 votes.
Molitor also says that having sportswriters do the majority of the voting is an aspect of the process that should change as he says print media should not be the only voters as the industry has changed. That said, Molitor isn’t sure that former players need to have a larger role in the selection process. “Not necessarily, I think the system has worked overall, but I think it is time to maybe look at some adjustments,” Molitor says.
Molitor is joining the Twins as a special assistant coach this season. He began his professional baseball career as a member of the Burlington Bees in 1977.
By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls