Gary Gillette, Ted Knorr, and Sean Gibson have joined together to form a new committee—named "42 for 21"—to publicize deserving Negro Leagues & Black Baseball candidates for upcoming Hall of Fame elections.

The recent election of Buck O’Neil, Bud Fowler, and Minnie Minoso to the Hall of Fame by the 2021 Early Baseball era committee is a positive step, but is only a first step, however. It is not sufficient to address the deficit in Hall of Fame membership of those who toiled in segregated baseball for all or almost all their careers.

If the current schedule is not changed, the next election in 2031 will take place 111 years after the founding of the Negro National League in 1920 and 83 years after the last Major Negro League game was played in 1948. The passage of time and the fading of memories will almost certainly hurt the chances of inducting additional Negro Leagues & Black Baseball individuals.

Another startling statistic illustrates the point: even if 42 more deserving candidates were to be inducted, it would bring the percentage of Negro Leagues & Black Baseball from the Segregated Era only to about 34% (depending on the mix of players and non-players). That would still be far below the corresponding level of the Integrated Era.

Waiting another decade to hold the next election for the Negro Leagues & Black Baseball is not a reasonable way to address this glaring disparity.

ABOUT 42 For 21