Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1937

The 1937 process of selecting inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame was markedly different from the initial elections the previous year. As only half of the initial goal of 10 inductees had been selected in 1936, members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) were once again given authority to select any players active in the 20th century; but the unsuccessful 1936 Veterans Committee election for 19th century players led to a smaller Centennial Commission choosing a handful of inductees whose contributions were largely as non-players.

The Centennial Commission

After the error-ridden 1936 Veterans election failed to select any 19th century players, the Hall opted in 1937 to have a small committee select inductees "for outstanding service to base ball apart from playing the game." The Commission's members were: Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis; National League president Ford Frick; American League president Will Harridge; Judge William G. Bramham, president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (the minor league overseeing body); former NL president John Heydler; and George Trautman, president of the minor league American Association and chairman of the National Association's executive committee. At the December 1937 major league winter meetings in Chicago, Frick announced that the Commission had elected:

Related Topics:
Kenesaw Mountain Landis - Ford Frick - Will Harridge - William G. Bramham - John Heydler - George Trautman - American Association

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• Connie Mack and John McGraw, who had been excellent players in the 1890s and had gone on to be the winningest managers in their respective leagues - Mack with 9 American League pennants and 5 World Series titles, and McGraw with 10 National League pennants and 3 World Series titles;
• Morgan Bulkeley, the NL's first president (1876), and Byron "Ban" Johnson, the AL's founder and first president (1900-1927); and
• George Wright, who formed baseball's first professional team in 1869 and became the game's first outstanding shortstop. He was also a successful manager and led a number of global barnstorming tours.

Of the five selectees, only Mack was still living when the selections were made.

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