Does anyone know why there's a waiting period for Baseball Hall of Fame?

Question

I can see maybe one year or two years after a guy retires,but five?

Answer 1

I think there's two things at play here. One, they don't want someone who has retired and been elected to the Hall of Fame to come back and play. The Hall of Fame is designed to honor the past and the thinking, I assume, is that those in the Hall should be firmly in the past, not the present.

The other reason is it's a good idea to let some time go by after a player retires in order to get a better historical perspective on their accomplishments. People tend to become more objective over time and by waiting it prevents those who vote from being caught up in the emotion of a player's career while it is still very fresh.

Answer 2

If they voted right away, undeserving players might get in based upon emotion, rather than statistics - and there are a few of those in there anyway. After 5 years, the BBWA has had the opportunity to reflect upon what the player accomplished and there's less emotionalism involved. This is probably also why no player has ever been a unanimous selection.

Answer 3

So the vote can be on their overall career accomplishments and not the hype that may surround a player, even a year or two after retirement, because his team won the World Series, he had one great last season, etc.

For this simple reason, sounds like a good idea to me.

Answer 4

Also called the Bill Parcells Syndrome.

Answer 5

there is one because they look at many things such as their stats from start to finish all the way to information telling if they were doped up or not. i can understand why there is a 5 year period because it takes a long time to obtain that information and crunch all the numbers.

Answer 6

So guys don't retire, make the Hall and then unretire.

Answer 7

To avoid the Michael Jordan or Roger Clemens syndrome..."I'm retiring", "no I'm not", "yes, I am".....plainly put, they want HoF members RETIRED.