How Does Baseball Hall Of Fame Voting Work?

How does baseball Hall of Fame voting work? Find out the requirements for being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and how the voting process works.

Introduction

Every year, baseball fans await the announcement of the newest members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. But how does voting for the Hall of Fame work? Here’s a look at the process.

Each voter can select up to 10 eligible candidates on their ballot. To be eligible, a player must have been retired for five years, though there is a exception for players who were active within the last five years but have been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Players must also have played in at least 10 major league seasons to be eligible. A player’s time on thedisabled list does not count towards this total.

Voters are instructed to base their selections on “the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”

The Five Year Wait

Players must wait five years after retirement to be eligible for the Hall of Fame ballot. A 15-member committee meets once a year to review the cases of eligible players and decide who will be inducted. The committee members are all former MLB players, executives or broadcasters. All living inductees also have a vote.

To be elected, a player must receive 75% of the vote. If no one is elected, the player with the most votes is placed on the ballot for the next year. A player can stay on the ballot for up to ten years as long as they receive at least 5% of the vote each year.

The Veterans Committee

The Veterans Committee is a group of retired MLB players, executives, and historians who vote on players who are not yet inducted into the Hall of Fame. This group meets once every five years to discuss and vote on eligible candidates. A player must be retired for at least 25 years to be eligible for the Veterans Committee ballot. The Veterans Committee can elect players by a simple majority vote.

The Modern Era Committee

In order to be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, a player must have played in at least 10 major league seasons, and have been retired for five years. If a player retired before 1943, he must be at least 70 years old. Players who died after WWII but before 1954 only need to be posthumously inducted if they were voted in by the Veterans Committee.

Once a player meets these requirements, he becomes eligible to appear on the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) ballot. The BBWAA has been voting on Hall of Fame candidates since 1936, and they elect anywhere from zero to four players each year. A player needs to appear on 75% of the ballots cast in order to be elected.

If a player does not get elected by the BBWAA, he can still be considered by one of the Hall of Fame’s Era Committees. These committees are made up of between 12 and 16 baseball experts, and they consider players who made their biggest contributions either pre-1943 (the Golden Era Committee), or between 1943 and 1972 (the Modern Era Committee). These committees meet every three years to vote on candidates, with anyplayer receiving votes on at least 12 of the 16 ballots being elected.

The Today’s Game Committee

The Today’s Game Era Committee, which is composed of 16 members (11 Hall of Famers, five veteran media members), considers candidates from baseball’s modern era (1987 and later). The committee meets every three years to discuss the merits of certain players who may have been overlooked by the BBWAA. Players who receive 75 percent or more of the votes cast by the Today’s Game Committee will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Expansion Era Committee

The Expansion Era Committee is a 16-member committee charged with considering baseball figures who made their greatest contributions to the game from 1973 to the present day. The committee meets every three years to discuss eligible candidates and vote on who should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. A candidate must receive 75% of the votes cast by the Expansion Era Committee in order to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

The Golden Era Committee

The Golden Era Committee is a 16-member panel appointed by the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors to consider candidates who played in what the board has declared to be baseball’s “Golden Era” — roughly between 1947 and 1972. The Committee meets once every three years to discuss whether any of those players warrant induction into the Hall.

To be eligible, a player must have been active as a player in Major League Baseball for at least 10 years, and must have been retired for at least five years. If a player retired more than 40 years ago, he is automatically placed on the Golden Era ballot; otherwise, he must receive support from at least five members of the committee to be placed on the ballot.

The committee considers a wide range of factors in its voting, including a player’s statistical accomplishments, his contribution to the team’s success, his sportsmanship and character, and his post-playing career. No one factor is considered more important than any other.

The Pre-Integration Era Committee

The Baseball Hall of Fame Pre-Integration Committee was formed in 2010 to consider long-retired players, umpires, and executives who made their greatest contributions to the sport prior to 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier.

The 16-member committee meets every three years to consider a final ballot of 20 nominees. The committee considers both on-field achievements as well as character and integrity, with a 75% affirmative vote required for induction.

The Pre-Integration Committee has inducted nine people since its inception: umpire Hank O’Day, Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, Orioles executive Effa Manley, player Deacon White (2013), manager/executive Frank Selee (2014), player Louis Santop (2015), Yankees executive Barney Dreyfuss (2016), player Chris von der Ahe (2017), and pitcher Vic Willis (2018).

The Special Election Committee

The Special Election Committee is a 16-person panel appointed by the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors. The committee members are historians, officials, and former players. They meet every five years to consider candidates who were not elected by the BBWAA, as well as candidates who were eligible but dropped off the ballot because they did not receive the required 75 percent of the vote.

For a candidate to be considered by the Special Election Committee, he must have been retired for at least 20 years. If a player retired less than 20 years ago, he must have been active in Major League Baseball within the last 50 years. Candidates are also evaluated on their character and contributions to the game. A maximum of two candidates can be elected each time the committee meets.

The J.G. Taylor Spink Award

The J.G. Taylor Spink Award is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a baseball writer. It is given to a person “for meritorious contributions to baseball writing.”

In order to be eligible for the award, a person must have been a baseball writer for at least 10 years. They must also be active members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA).

Once a person is eligible, they can be nominated by any other member of the BBWAA. A person can only be nominated once per year, and they can only be nominated for the award after they have been retired from baseball writing for at least five years.

Once all of the nominations have been collected, the BBWAA will hold a vote in order to decide who will receive the award. All members of the BBWAA are eligible to vote, and each voter can choose up to 10 nominees. The nominee with the most votes will receive the award.

If no one receives at least 75% of the votes, then no one will receive the award that year. In this case, all of the nominees who received at least 5% of the vote will remain on the ballot for another year.

The Ford C. Frick Award

The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually to a broadcaster for “major contributions to baseball.” The award is named for Ford C. Frick, the third Commissioner of Baseball and former president of the National League.

The Award was first presented in 1978, and it is considered one of the most prestigious awards in baseball. It is voted on by a 20-member panel, which includes all living past winners of the Award, as well as historians and members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

To be eligible for the Award, a broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league baseball broadcast service with a team, network, or subsidiary thereof.

The Award is not necessarily given every year; it is only awarded when there is a worthy candidate. In some years, no one is nominated who meets the criteria set forth by the Frick Committee, and in those cases, no Award is given.

The Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has been recognizing the game’s greatest players, managers, umpires and executives since it opened its doors in 1939. But it wasn’t until 2008 that the institution began honoring an important figure who had been long overdue for recognition: the African American pioneer.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Negro League baseball, the Hall introduced the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, named after one of the sport’s most influential and beloved figures. The award is given annually to an individual whose “contributions to the game of baseball over an extended period of time” have been “significant and lasting.”

To be eligible for the award, a person must be at least 55 years old and have spent at least 20 years in baseball in any capacity. That means players, managers, executives, scouts, journalists, historians and anyone else with a significant connection to the game can be considered.

The award is voted on by a 16-member committee that includes all living Hall of Famers plus four historians or other experts appointed by the Hall. The committee meets every December to discuss candidates and vote by secret ballot. A candidate must receive 75% of the vote to earn induction.

The BBWAA Awards

The BBWAA awards are the most well-known of the Hall of Fame voting processes. Any baseball writer who has been a member of the BBWAA for 10 consecutive years is eligible to vote. The BBWAA released its first Hall of Fame ballot in 1936, and since then, they have elected players on an annual basis (with a few exceptions).

To be elected by the BBWAA, a player must appear on 75% of the ballots cast. For example, if there are 500 ballots cast, and a player appears on 375 of them, that player will be elected to the Hall of Fame. If no one is elected by the BBWAA in a given year, the process is repeated the following year.

Players can remain on the ballot for up to 10 years as long as they continue to receive 5% of the vote. Once a player falls below 5%, they are no longer eligible for election by the BBWAA.

Conclusion

In order to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, a player must first be nominated by a eligible voter. Once nominated, the player will appear on a ballot with other nominees. A player must receive 75% of the vote in order to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.