1. Authorization. The West Michigan Whitecaps reserve the right to hold an election every year to induct former members of the team, and members of the Whitecaps organization, and members of the Whitecaps community into a West Michigan Whitecaps Hall of Fame.
2. Eligible Candidates – must meet the following requirements:
A. Players and coaches
i. Played or coached for the Whitecaps in his or her career.
ii. Must be out of the Whitecaps Organization for a minimum of five (5) years.
iii. In case of death the candidate must be out of the Whitecaps organization for a
minimum one (1) year.
B. Non-player / non-coach candidates
i. In addition to on-field honorees, other members of the Whitecaps community will be
eligible
ii. Other candidates will be judged on the basis of outstanding contributions, support or
significant achievements to the organization and / or the West Michigan community.
3. Criteria of candidates
A. Criteria of possible candidates will be judged over the individual candidate’s entire
career. Achievements while with the Whitecaps will be emphasized, but entirety of career
will be considered.
B. Candidates will also be judged on his or her impact on the community, his or her
character, sportsmanship and integrity.
4. Nomination Process
A. Any source with or without direct association with the team may submit a nomination to
the Hall of Fame Committee.
B. Nominations must be in writing and include a biographical recap of the nominee’s
involvement and accomplishments with the organization and their career.
C. There will be no minimum of accepted nominees and all nominations must be
submitted by May 15 of the voting year.
5. Committee
A. Eligible candidates will be judged by a committee of nine (9) electors. The total of the Fan
Voting (described in section six (6)) will make up one (1) elector and will be equal to one
committee member. At least three (3) electors must be from the Whitecaps front office,
one (1) elector will be a fan of the team not affiliated directly with the Whitecaps or any
media outlet and the remaining electors will be selected from the local media.
B. Electors. Only active members of the Whitecaps front office and selected members of the
media are eligible for the committee. Whitecaps front office members must have worked
full time for the organization for a minimum of five (5) years. Members of the media must
have lived in the area for no less than ten (10) years and must have covered the
Whitecaps full time for a minimum of seven (7) years.
C. Committee members will be designated by a member or members of the Whitecaps
front office staff. The selecting front office member(s) cannot appoint themselves to the
committee.
D. Each Committee member will serve a term of one (1) year. The makeup of the committee
will be reevaluated on a yearly basis.
6. Voting Procedures
A. Fan Voting will take place starting June 1. Fans will be able to vote at the ball park and via
the Whitecaps website until September 1 of the same year.
B. Candidates on the fan ballots should be voted on using a points system of one (1) to
three (3), with three (3) being the highest. Each voter shall place a three (3) next to his or
her top choice for induction, a two (2) next to the name of his or her second choice and a
one (1) next to their third choice. Supporting information on each candidate detailing the
nominee’s accomplishments will be included on the ballot.
C. The three (3) nominees with the most points from the Fan Voting will be named on the
Fan Vote ballot submitted to the committee.
D. Electors may vote either in favor of the nominee for entrance to the Hall of Fame or
against it.
E. Candidates must garner seven (7) out of the nine (9) votes to be elected.
7. Annual Induction
A. Schedule
i. Nominations for election shall be submitted to the Hall of Fame committee by no later
than April 1 of each year.
ii. The Hall of Fame committee will meet and review nominations within the month to
assure the nominees meet the specified criteria. Nominees for that year’s Hall of
Fame class will be announced no later than June 1 of the voting year.
iii. The committee will then meet again in a timely manner following the fan vote to
review and vote on any and all nominations.
iv. The announcement of any and all inducted members of the Hall of Fame will then be
announced at the annual Whitecaps Winter Banquet.
B. Inductions
i. No more than the three top vote nominees will be selected for induction each year.
ii. There shall be no minimum number of nominees elected for every election year.
8. Whitecaps Professional Baseball reserves the right to revoke, alter or amend these rules at any time.