1978 Hall of Fame
There are certain rules in regards to who is allowed to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Officially there are three rules to satisfy. Rule 1 is that you must wait 5 years after retirement to be on the ballot, unless you were Roberto Clemente or Lou Gehrig where special exceptions are made. Rule 2 is don't be on baseballs ineligible list (Shoeless Joe Jackson, Pete Rose). The lesser known third rule is you must have logged 10 seasons in baseball. The ten years seems like an arbitrary choice, but it helps vet out the guys who may have been a flash in the pan but without longevity and separate them from the men who made a career of being great. Very rarely would a man log in under 10 years but still be HoF worthy, but in 1978 an exception was decided upon. Addie Joss pitched from 1902-1910 and had a career trajectory that had Cooperstown written all over it (eventually, since the HoF wasn't a thing yet) that also included a Perfect Game, but sadly he passed away from tuberculosis meningitis prior to the start of the 1911 season. When the Hall of Fame was getting started, the 10 year rule inadvertently barred Joss from even being considered, but in 1977 it was announced that Joss would become the only exception and the Veterans Committee voted to add Addie to the class of '78 along with Larry MacPhail and the BBWAA selection Eddie Mathews.
