The only association I have with John Jordan (Buck) O’Neil is the same last name, but still I'm mystified as to what it takes for him to get elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Seventeen people associated with the Negro Leagues were elected today by a special committee, but Buck was not one of them.
Buck was two-time Negro League batting champion, five-time championship-winning manager, the scout credited with discovering Lou Brock and Ernie Banks, the first black coach with a major league team, and a driving force behind the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Those other 17 must be exceptional people to be more deserving than Buck. The fact I've never heard of any of them must be a shortcoming on my part.
Buck O'Neil is 94 years old and in my opinion is qualified two or three times over. The special committee should reconvene in special session and vote Buck O'Neil in the Hall of Fame before God calls him home.
Update 2022: Buck didn't make it before his death in later in 2006, but did make it in voting in 2021. Formal induction is July 2022.
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