By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Feb 2, 2012) US Soccer Players -- The ballot for the National Soccer Hall of Fame's Class of 2012 was released earlier this week, with two of the nominees presenting themselves as obvious choices. Claudio Reyna and Tony Meola should have no problem getting the requisite number of votes to make them first ballot Hall of Famers. Barring a surprise in the voting, they'll be joining several of their teammates already inducted.
As has been the case with the Hall voting, being a US National Team player is almost a requirement for getting elected in the first year of eligibility. Since the Hall was designed for players who spent at least some time playing in the United States, that's as it should be. We're seeing the capstone on careers that rebuilt the National Team program and took it to greater heights.
Last year's class certainly reflected that. Cobi Jones, Eddie Pope, and Earnie Stewart entered the Hall, with Jones and Pope elected in year one. It's the continuation of a pattern that also applies to the Women's National Team. Significant contributions from the premier players all but guarantees induction. But as many have noted in prior years, induction isn't always easy even for the elite American soccer player.
Stewart needed an extra year on the ballot to get the required percentage of votes, a surprise considering the contributions he made to the National Team, his trailblazing career in Holland, and his single season in Major League Soccer that ended with winning the MLS Cup. All the boxes checked, but it wasn't enough in his first year of eligibility. That's how difficult it can be to win election in the modern era of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Part of that is the breadth of individuals holding Hall of Fame votes. Unlike Major League Baseball, Hall voting isn't conducted by a self-selecting group of experienced journalists. Baseball Hall of Fame voting is an honor in itself, requiring a 10-year uninterrupted minimum of covering the sport. That would be a short list of eligible voters if applied to the US soccer media pool, and the National Soccer Hall of Fame voting isn't limited to just media members. The breadth of votes makes consensus difficult.
Part of that is also how contributions are weighed. National Team contributions outrank club contributions almost without exception. That's partly by design, with 20 National Team caps enough to get a player on the ballot. The other separate qualification is five years with an American club where the player makes an All-Star Team or a Best XI at least once.
That shifts the focus away from players that contributed to Major League Soccer without the National Team component. Rightly so in the broad sense of the Hall being about rewarding the best American soccer has to offer. Players who contributed for country and club should go in first. That's the dual nature of the highest level of professional soccer. At the same time, the insistence on including so many NASL-era players skews the conversation.
Part of that was simply timing. The Hall had over a decade to add NASL veterans. That was made easier by all but ignoring the decade when indoor soccer was the dominant game for professional players in North America. The Hall did special elections to include the earlier US World Cup teams, American Soccer League veterans, and other honorees that might have gotten lost amid multiple high-profile candidates. That luxury isn't likely to happen again, but it created a wide definition for what it means to be a National Soccer Hall of Famer.
The point of a hall of fame is that there's no difference in induction classes over time. Sure, a player can be the fortunate recipient of a Hall of Fame call when there are no obvious candidates, but once in all are considered equals at the top of their sport. With the National Soccer Hall of Fame, there's now a disparity between what happened prior to the 2004 induction class, and what we've seen since.
We're already seeing a Hall of Fame where the early years of Major League Soccer aren't fully represented through the regular ballot, as should be expected. The best American players were in and out of MLS while starring for the National Team. It should be all but impossible for an MLS-only candidate to break through and win election. However, that's not the standard the Hall set prior to the '04 class. A separate category is an easy fix for that, one already used for the NASL induction class in 2003.
That was supposed to close the door on the NASL inductees, with the Hall fully aware that the next generation of players would take over starting with the '04 Class. It's worth asking why the NASL dominated Hall inductions for so long. After all, we're talking about a league that spent at most five years at it's height from say 1975 to 1980 and was gone by 1984. The Veteran's Ballot continues to include players who check one box when it comes to American soccer, playing for an American club prior to the start of MLS.
Since that's precisely the problem many of the early MLS stars are facing, it's worth wondering what happens to them when they get their second chance at Hall induction.
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