The board of directors retained its 10-player limit imposed on voters despite a proposal by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose veteran members cast the ballots, to raise the maximum to 12 players.
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“At some point, there has to be a line drawn,” Brad Horn, the Hall’s vice president of communications and education, told ESPN.com. “To retain the exclusivity of the Baseball Hall of Fame, entering the Hall of Fame should be difficult. … And 10 is where the board was comfortable with keeping that line.”
Earlier this year, a study showed that for the first time more than half of all BBWAA voters were using all 10 spots on their ballots.
Ballots for the 2016 Hall of Fame class were mailed out to 475 eligible members of the BBWAA this week with the “Rule of 10” imposed.