Kaat, a left-handed pitcher, won 283 games and 16 gold gloves ahead of a successful broadcasting career and Fowler, whose career began in the 1870s, was a pioneer in many regards who is considered by many to have been the first Black player to have played organized baseball against white players.
O’Neil, Miñoso and Fowler are the first players who played in the Negro leagues to be inducted since a special committee elected 17 people from those leagues in 2006. While many had pushed for all three to be inducted for decades, a wave of enthusiasm for their candidacies came when Major League Baseball announced last year that it would recognize some of the Negro leagues as having been major leagues.
As opposed to the writers’ ballot, which is being voted on now with results to be announced on Jan. 25, Sunday’s results came from the Early Baseball Era Committee, which was reviewing players from before 1950, and the Golden Days Era Committee, which was reviewing players from 1950 to 1969.
The Golden Days committee elected Miñoso, Hodges, Kaat and Oliva. The Early Days committee elected O’Neil and Fowler.