The National Baseball Hall of Fame kicked off its big weekend by officially announcing the first changes to the Hall of Fame voting process since 1991. It wasn't a complete overhaul of the system, but the changes are all noteworthy. The most notable of them being that eligible players who are named on at least five percent of BBWAA ballots in a given year will now remain on the ballot for a maximum of 10 years, which is down from 15 years.
Hall of Fame eligible voters will now be required to complete a registration form and sign a code of conduct.
The names of those BBWAA members casting Hall of Fame ballots will now be made public with the election results; an individual’s ballot, however, will not be revealed by the Hall of Fame.
Its being played off as minor changes, but as the article notes Bert Blyleven, Jim Rice, Bruce Sutter, Duke Snider, Bob Lemon, & Ralph Kiner all were elected in their 11-15th year of eligibility. Trammel, Smith, and Mattingly are grandfathered in and will be eligible next year.
Should hopefully force voters to be more decisive and avoid the rush of support towards the on of a player's time on a ballot.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/hall-of-fame-announces-first-changes-to-voting-process-since-1991-180308963.html