Executives

    Executives are the ones who made baseball an organized profession and a business. Like umpires, they too have been recognized by the Hall of Fame. Here are two prominent executives who have been greatly overlooked by the Hall of Fame. 

Tom Lynch umpired from 1888 through 1902, working 1,325 games, and was the first to reach 1,000 in a career. He served as the NL president from 1910 through 1913, and successfully kept the peace during his brief tenure. He lost his job in 1913 after an unpopular ruling on an appeal made by an umpire. If he had kept his job (which he should have), then he almost certainly would have made the Hall of Fame. 

Charles Weeghman was the owner of the Federal League Chicago ("Chi-Fed") Whales, a former owner of the Chicago Cubs, and the builder of what is now Wrigley Field. But by far his most important innovation was the idea of letting spectators keep baseballs that left the playing field. This may sound rather insignificant, but it was actually a huge deal. Before this, there used to be many violent fights between ushers and spectators over the balls. There was a sort of undeclared war between park policemen and fans (or, more accurately, kranks, as they were called back then). Since people go to baseball games to have a good time, and not to get pummeled over a baseball, Weeghman's idea dramatically improved baseball for the better.