The Veterans Committee was the popular name of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee to Consider Managers, Umpires, Executives and Long-Retired Players; a former voting committee of the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame that provided an opportunity for Hall of Fame enshrinement to all individuals who are eligible for induction but ineligible for consideration by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). The term "Veterans Committee" (was composed of four committees of baseball veterans) is taken from the body's former official name: National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee on Baseball Veterans (1953). In July 2010, the Veterans Committee name was changed by the Hall of Fame Board of Directors and its name was no longer officially used by the Hall of Fame, which called three new 16-member voting committees by era: the Expansion Era Committee (1973-present), the Golden Era Committee (1947-1972), and the Pre-Integration Era Committee (1876-1946) - each, "The Committee" (the term "Veterans Committee" is still being used by some sports media). The three committees met on a rotating cycle once every three years to elect candidates from each era to the Hall of Fame that have been "identified" by a BBWAA-appointed "Screening Committee" named the "Historical Overview Committee" (10-12 representatives; BBWAA members).

When the National Baseball Museum opened on June 12, 1939 in Cooperstown New York, it remained to be determined how the membership in its Hall of Fame would be determined in the future. The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) had determined to vote every three years rather than annually, although it had voted in special election to consider Lou Gehrig. That move was a widely criticized, as observers generally agreed that it was a good pace to elect about three recent players annually, as from 1936 to 1939.  After the Centennial Committee made six selections in 1939 from the figures of the 19th century, baseball's Commissioner Landis completely revised the committee's membership, designating it the Hall of Fame Committee and establishing it as the institution's permanent governing body. From 1939 to 1944 its four members were Athletics owner and manager Connie Mack, Yankees president Ed Barrow, Braves president Bob Quinn, and sportswriter Sid Mercer. This committee was responsible, in its function as the Old-Timers Committee, for selecting additional worthy candidates from the 19th century, but it never convened during this five-year period, and thereby selected no one. Inaction fostered greater complaints that the stars of the 1880s and 1890s were being ignored. The relative slight was small considering the baseball writers voted only once between 1939 and 1945 and elected only one recent player.  There was no regular election in 1944 to select inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame; in 1939 the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) had moved to hold elections every three years rather than annually, and the next scheduled election was to be in 1945. In addition, the four-member Old-Timers Committee formed in late 1939 to select deserving individuals from the 19th century had still never met for that purpose, and criticism of the lack of honorees from that period was increasing.

Was anything eventually decided about the membership?
The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) had determined to vote every three years rather than annually,