NEWS
Time to change the Hall of Fame
Posted: Saturday, April 14, 2001
Racing's leaders deserve a place of honor, and voting should follow baseball's example
Ballots recently were received for voting on new members of the Racing Hall of Fame. It is the annual reminder of the inequities in the system and how poorly racing honors its past. The Racing Hall of Fame fails to acknowledge many of the sport's most important contributors, leaving a gaping hole in the history contained within its walls.
There are essentially two problems with the Hall: first, who is eligible, and second, the actual voting process. The narrow definition of who is eligible for induction into the Racing Hall of Fame effectively excludes some of the most important people in the history of the sport.
In addition to horses that have been retired for five years, only people who are hands-on with the horses at the racetrack-trainers and jockeys-are eligible to be elected.
It has been suggested by those who oversee the Racing Hall of Fame that the existing categories are used to acknowledge the wishes of the people who founded the Hall in the 1950s-a group of influential owners and breeders who did not want to be perceived as building a shrine to themselves.
Rules governing induction call for at least one horse and person to be enshrined every year from each of five categories: contemporary male, contemporary female, horse of yesteryear, trainer, and jockey. A committee first reduces the ballot to three individuals in each category before the general voting membership is polled. No matter what any individual voter may think-indeed, no matter what the majority may think of any individual candidate-one nominee is guaranteed to be inducted.
That practice is out of step with how other Halls of Fame operate, notably the most well-known, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. To get into Cooperstown, a baseball player must receive 75% approval from all ballots sent to voters. If less than three out of every four voters do not believe that the player deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, he does not get in. In baseball, there is no minimum or maximum number of players that must be inducted in any one year.
Additionally, the major sports halls of fame do not narrowly define membership to players. Cooperstown has a wing for baseball broadcasters and another for baseball writers. The Baseball Hall of Fame also honors general managers and team owners. The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, likewise honors owners in addition to players.
Because the Racing Hall of Fame so narrowly defines eligibility, a number of individuals who do not rank among the all-time greats of the sport have been inducted, including at least three horses who were not champions while racing: Exceller, Alydar, and Bold 'n Determined.
Meanwhile, ignored by the Racing Hall of Fame are scores of people who have made lasting contributions to the sport.
Not eligible for the Racing Hall of Fame are such people as James R. Keene, Robert Alexander, Warren Wright, H. P. Whitney, C. V. Whitney, E. P. Taylor, A. B. "Bull" Hancock Jr., Matt Winn, William Woodward, James Ben Ali Haggin, the August Belmonts, Daniel Swigert, John Galbreath, John Hanes, Alfred Vanderbilt, Joe Estes, Joe Palmer, Mars Cassidy, Walter Vosburgh, John B. Campbell, Phil Chinn, E. R. Bradley, Hal Price Headley, and George Swinebroad, to name a few.
That does not even touch on some of the seminal names in racing today, such as John Gaines, Ted Bassett, and Joe Hirsch.
A walk through the Racing Hall of Fame should provide a visitor with a panoramic view of the history of the sport. Racing must find a place to honor important owners, breeders, racetrack executives, writers, and others-and what better place than the Racing Hall of Fame?
The Racing Hall of Fame also should adopt a voting process similar to baseball, where a certain percentage of all voters must agree on the merits of the nominated individual. Yes, some years there may not be an inductee in a certain category. But we can live with that. By definition, it should be hard to get into the Hall, and when lesser individuals do get in it demeans those rightly enshrined.
The 1950s and the founding of the Hall are long past. Racing should embrace its history and celebrate it. It's time to make the Hall of Fame representative of all facets of the sport.
Mark Simon is editor of Thoroughbred Times.
