Indeed, since its establishment in 1939, the Hall has inducted only six Latin players: Roberto Clemente, Juan Marichal, Luis Aparicio, Rod Carew, Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez.

Both sportwriters and the veteran's committee should consider the barriers of color, culture, and most significantly, language, that prevented some Latin stars from competing in the big leagues, and robbed others of their prime years. A mutual lack of understanding remains to this day. If Latin players and managers could not cozy up to, talk to and ingratiate themselves to sportswriters and even teammates because they didn't speak the language, then it was - and still is - easy to stereotype, overlook and demean them.

Black Latin players suffered the same indignities as Negro players. For them, however, a new country was not merely filled with racial discrimination and loneliness but the burden of learning a new language. Some white Latins, such as Adolfo Luque and Miguel Gonzalez, played in the Majors before 1947. All would combat the depictions of being clannish, aloof, dumb, moody and hot-tempered. Yet when big leaguers - ranging from Ty Cobb to Babe Ruth to Monte Irvin - would compete in Cuba or Mexico in their offseason, they understood that the skills of the Latin American players were extraordinary.

Speaking up or acting out was taboo. Victor Pellot, the black Puerto Rican first baseman, commonly known as Vic Power, was for years relegated to the minor leagues because the Yankees considered him too flashy, and because he dated white women. When he finally entered the majors in 1954, he was shipped to the lowly Philadelphia A's. Pellot went on to win seven Gold Gloves.

In recent years, the veteran's committee has inducted a number of old-timers who neither faced the "wall of neglect," nor whose records outshined a myriad of Spanish-speaking stars. Two examples are the gifted New York shortstops of the 1950's, Pee Wee Reese and Phil Rizzuto. Both cultivated positive post-career images as television announcers, but hit only .269 and .273, respectively. Championship Latin shortstops Dave Concepcion and Bert Campaneris were at least as noteworthy. Concepcion won five Gold Gloves, stole 321 bases and hit .267 during his 19-year career. Campaneris was a six-time All-Star for the Oakland A's, led the league in stolen bases for six seasons and hit .259.

Luis Tiant, Jr., won 229 games, was a four-time 20-game winner, led his league twice with microscopic ERA's, threw 49 career shutouts, but was always dogged by rumors of his old age. Pitchers Camilo Pascual and Mike Cuellar also had great careers. Pascual won 20 games in four different seasons, earned a Cy Young Award and won 174 games for some of baseball's worst teams. Even the gifted Tony Oliva, who hit .300 in nine of his 15 years, but whose career was cut short by injury, is no longer given serious attention.

Baseball has brought joy and freedom to millions of North and South Americans. It was 50 years ago that Clemente entered the major leagues. Initially caricatured as moody and even dumb, the heroic superstar never gave ground. So there is no better time than now for the Hall of Fame to reconsider its decision-making process and form a special committee for Latin players and managers whose contributions, like the Negro Leaguers before them, have been overlooked by the baseball establishment. Dan Klores' most recent documentary film was "Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story." His new film, "Viva Baseball" will premiere on SpikeTV in late September.
  
"Viva Baseball!" Director and Producer
 
Dan Klores is an award-winning filmmaker whose first two films, the critically-acclaimed documentaries, "Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story," (USA Network) and "The Boys of 2nd Street Park" (Showtime) both premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Currently, he is shooting "Love is in the Air," a story of obsession and love based upon the real life saga of Burt and Linda Pugach. Additionally, Klores wrote "Little Doc," a play about the nature of broken relationships, which will go into workshop with Naked Angels in the autumn of 2005. As a producer, his credits include: Paul Simon's three-time Tony nominated Broadway musical, "The Capeman" and Warner Bros.' "City by the Sea" starring Robert De Niro and Frances McDormand. An accomplished writer, Klores authored Roundball Culture (Strode Publications, 1980), and has written for Esquire, New York magazine, The Daily News, The Village Voice and Southern Exposure.

Mr. Klores resides in Manhattan with his wife, Abbe, and his three sons Jake, Sam and Luke.