The Veterans’ Committee was a committee of executives to elect figures from the 19th century to the Hall of Fame that had been overlooked. The first election elected worthy managers like John McGraw and Connie Mack, and contributors to the game like Ban Johnson. This committee would elect several worthy people over the years - Old Hoss Radbourn and Jesse Burkett.
But the committee was also used to elect buddies of people on the committee. There were head-scratching selections like Dave Bancroft (career .714 OPS!), Jesse Haines (career 3.64 ERA!), and Tom Yawkey (an owner who never won a championship and was pretty racist!