Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith among several Cubs-connected people on the Hall of Fame’s newest committee

Eight former players from MLB’s recent past will be considered for Hall of Fame induction by the Hall’s Contemporary Era Committee when it meets as part of baseball’s Winter Meetings this coming Sunday, December 4, as I noted here earlier this month.

Today, the 16 members of that committee were revealed, and several have Cubs connections:

In addition to Bonds and Clemens, Albert Belle, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling will be considered by the 16-person committee, which for the first time will include two women, Marlins general manager Kim Ng and longtime sportswriter Susan Slusser, who was once president of the BBWAA.

Of the 16 committee members, four have Cubs connections. In addition to Ryne Sandberg and Lee Smith, Hall of Famer Greg Maddux and former Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein will cast votes among those eight players.

The key to that vote is laid out in this MLB.com article:

Each committee will still have 16 members, but each ballot will consist of eight candidates, down from the previous 10. Each committee member is allowed to vote for up to three players on the ballot, with at least 12 votes (75 percent) still required for Hall of Fame induction.

That means there are 48 total votes (three for each of the 16 committee members) that can be spread out among the eight players on the ballot.

The voting process has always remained secret, but this committee will meet this coming Sunday, December 4 and the announcement of any player or players being elected will be made in a live broadcast on MLB Network at 7 p.m. CT that day.

In the polls I posted in my article on this topic earlier this month, none of the eight players received 75 percent of the BCB vote. In fact, only one — Roger Clemens — received more than 50 percent.

As always, we await developments.