Cardinals "captain' Ken Boyer back on committee ballot for Cooperstown consideration
SAN ANTONIO — The Cardinals' beloved "Captain" Ken Boyer, whose number has long been retired by the club, is back on a ballot for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Officials in Cooperstown, New York, on Monday announced Boyer and seven other players who will be on the Classic Baseball Era Committee's ballot for consideration next month. Former Cardinal Dick Allen joined Boyer as well as Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Dave Park, Luis Tiant and Negro Leagues stars Vic Harris and John Donaldson. The ballot features a panel-curated list of players, managers, umpires or executives who contributed to the game before 1980.
A 16-member committee will vote on the candidates, and induction requires receiving at least 75% of the vote. Results will be announced Dec. 8.
This is the seventh time Boyer has appeared on the ballot for a Hall committee, and that's after his 15 years on the baseball writers' ballot.
Boyer played 15 years in the majors and 11 with the Cardinals, where he was an 11-time All-Star, World Series champion and cornerstone of the club in the early 1960s. When Cardinals are ranked by their Wins Above Replacement with the club, Boyer's 62.8, according to Baseball-Reference.com , ranks only behind Stan Musial, Rogers Hornsby, Albert Pujols, Bob Gibson, and Ozzie Smith — the all-time greats from every era of Cardinals' championship baseball.
The late Rick Hummel, a Hall of Fame baseball writer at the Post-Dispatch for five decades, often championed Boyer's Cooperstown case as a member of committees at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Boyer won the National League MVP award in the championship season of 1964, delivered the defining grand slam of that World Series and had three hits in the decisive Game 7. He also won five Gold Glove awards at third base while with the Cardinals. He later managed the Cardinals.
In 1982, at just 51 years old, Boyer died of lung cancer.
The Cardinals retired his No. 14 in 1984.
Dick Allen spent one memorable season with the Cardinals in 1970. He was acquired from the Phillies in the trade that would change baseball. Going to Philadelphia in the deal was Curt Flood, and his refusal to play for the Phillies led to a Supreme Court case and a loss there, but ultimately the huge gain of free agency for players .
In 1970, Allen hit 34 home runs and drove home 101 RBIs to go with a .560 slugging percentage and a .937 OPS for the Cardinals. He was an All-Star that season, and at the end of it the Cardinals traded him to Dodgers. In return they received Ted Sizemore and Bob Stinson. A year later the Dodgers traded him to the Chicago White Sox for another member of this committee's ballot, pitcher Tommy John.
As front offices gather for the beginning of the GM Meetings, Post-Dispatch subscribers had concerns and questions answered from San Antonio.
The Cardinals claimed Roddery Munoz from the Miami Marlins just a few months after he made his major-league debut.
Lead baseball writer
