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The Baseball Hall of Fame will remain Steinbrenner-free until at least 2013 thanks to the courageous votes of at least nine members of the Veterans Committee. George Steinbrenner, the late Yankees owner who left this mortal coil last summer, needed 12 of 16 votes to make the Hall of Fame, but got somewhere between zero and seven votes.

The Hall of Fame is obviously a better place for Steinbrenner’s absence, (especially considering his questionable eligibility) but there were some indications that Steinbrenner will have a good chance to get in when the Veterans Committee next looks at “Expansion Era” figures three years from now. At least two of the voters, Hall of Fame players Johnny Bench and Tony Perez said that some in the committee felt that it was “too soon” for Steinbrenner, but that he’d get in eventually.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman reacted to his late Boss’s rejection in true Steinbrenner fashion: arrogance, delusions of grandeur and denial. “He’s already in the Hall, as far as I’m concerned,” said Ca$hboy. “He’s a Hall of Famer. They just haven’t made it official yet.” Maybe the Yankees should go ahead and make that plaque of Steinbrenner in Monument Park a little bigger just in case.

The Veterans Committee only voted through one person, executive Pat Gillick. Gillick made the brilliant career move of leaving Steinbrenner’s front office in 1976 to join the expansion Toronto Blue Jays. Gillick will be inducted into the Hall next July. Labor leader Marvin Miller missed out by one vote. Steinbrenner and nine others received fewer than eight votes — the Hall wouldn’t reveal exact numbers and instructed the 16 voters to keep their votes and deliberations private.