By P.J. Harmer

Staff Writer

Ron Santo inched closer to entering the National Baseball Hall of Fame but still fell short.

Santo received the most votes in the 2007 Veterans Committee election, appearing on 57 of the Players ballots (69.5 percent). Santo fell five votes shy of election, two years after coming up eight short.

The Cooperstown-based shrine announced its VC election results Tuesday afternoon, and for the third straight time, nobody was good enough to get in. Along with the Players ballot, the VC voted on a Composite ballot featuring managers, umpires and executives. Former umpire Doug Harvey led the Composite ballot with 52 votes (64.2 percent), nine fewer than he needed for election.

Despite three consecutive fruitless Players elections since the VC voting was revamped six years ago, Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark said Tuesday that she felt an open and fair voting process has been established.

"That being said, we are disappointed that no one has been elected in the three voting cycles of the Veterans Committee," Clark said. "The board wanted to watch the process for three cycles."

Clark said the Hall’s board of directors will discuss possible changes during its March 13 meeting.

"I don’t think we want to abandon the effort," Clark said. "But the board wanted to watch it, evaluate it and watch the trends. ... Maybe it needs a little bit of change."

Former pitcher Jim Kaat finished second in the Players voting to former third baseman Santo, a nine-time All-Star who played 14 of his 15 seasons with the Chicago Cubs. Kaat, who went 283-237 over a 25-year career, appeared on 52 of the 82 ballots cast this year (63.4 percent).[an error occurred while processing this directive]