The fans speak out.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)

In studying the list of players elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, I noticed Warren Spahn was elected in 1973. My source has his final year as 1965 with the San Francisco Giants. It has always been my understanding that a player becomes eligible five years after his retirement.

So, what am I missing here? Was Spahn left off the 1970, 1971 and 1972 ballots due to some technicality?

Eric Husby-Gerry

Albany, Calif.

Spahn was not left off the 1970, 1971, 1972 Hall of Fame ballots due to a technicality, but simply because he was not yet eligible.

He did not appear on the ballot until 1973 because he pitched three games for the Mexico City Tigers of the Mexican League in 1966 and three games for Tulsa in the Pacific Coast League in 1967. Thus, when his name appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 1973, he had been retired as an active player for five years.

My Brooklyn cousins would have agreed with the letter writer in the November issue that Billy Cox was the greatest defensive third baseman of modern times. But that was before they saw Clete Boyer.