Others are so old that they’re a bit senile or childish, as one indicated a few years ago when he voted nostalgically for 10 former Philadelphia ballplayers, all of whom could get into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown only one way – by buying a ticket. Some of the honorary members are so far removed from the game that they’re totally disinterested. It also is given to all former 10-year BBWAA card-carrying members no longer in the craft. The Hall of Fame ballot, to explain, is accorded to all active writers with 10 or more years’ experience. It’s this guess that the omissions were more the careless oversight or the intentional malice of honorary BBWAA members. Louis Post-Dispatch, sports editor Bob Broeg tried to explain how someone could deem Musial unworthy. Nonetheless, there was some consternation when it was reported that one of the ballots included votes for the maximum 10 candidates but omitted both Musial and the other 1969 selection, Roy Campanella.

In his first year on the ballot, Musial received 317 of 340 votes, good for 93.2% and far eclipsing the 255 votes necessary to reach 75% and earn election to the Hall of Fame. The real question was what the 23 voters who didn’t mark Musial’s name on their ballots were thinking.

When Stan Musial was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1969, the question wasn’t whether the three-time National League MVP Award winner would earn his place in Cooperstown.

Stan Musial by Stan Musial