Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1946

The 1946 elections to select inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame marked a dramatic revision of the methods used one year earlier. The continuing failure to elect modern players led to changes in the ballot process, and forced a re-thinking of the role of the Old-Timers Committee.

The BBWAA election

Because the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) had failed to elect any candidates in 1945, and had elected only one player since 1939, the previous delay of three years between elections had been eliminated in September 1945 by the Hall of Fame Committee, and annual elections restored. In response to the high number of candidates drawing votes in the 1945 election, a 2-step ballot process was created to narrow the field for a final vote. The first ballot would proceed in the same manner as previous elections, with voters free to name any 10 candidates. However, there would be no possibility of any inductees being elected in this vote; instead, the top 20 candidates would proceed to a final ballot. In order for any candidate to be elected, at least 200 ballots would have to be cast in each phase of the election.

Related Topics:
Baseball Writers Association of America - 1945 election

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In addition to the field being narrowed in this manner, it was hoped that the absence of several previously popular candidates would clear the way for others; the 10 players elected by the Old-Timers Committee in 1945 had received 26% of the vote in the last BBWAA election, and had included 7 of the top 16 candidates. It was hoped that the revised approach and reduced field of candidates would result in up to 5 new members of the Hall annually.

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The nominating stage

Members of the BBWAA again had the authority to select any players active in the 20th century (after 1900), provided they had not appeared in a major league game in 1945. Voters were instructed to cast votes for 10 candidates. The top 20 candidates would advance to the final ballot, but the vote totals from the first ballot would not be revealed until the second election was over.

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In addition, the Hall of Fame Committee had instituted a set of criteria for the voters to observe in completing their ballot; for each candidate, they were to take into consideration:

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• playing ability
• integrity
• sportsmanship
• character
• contribution to the team on which they played and to baseball in general.

A total of 202 ballots were cast, with 1948 individual votes for 76 specific candidates; due to a tie for 20th place, the top 21 candidates (those who had received 39 or more votes) were announced on January 3, 1946, and advanced to the final ballot.

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Even following the previous year's election of several players from that era, the emphasis on the stars of the 1900s and 1910s - who many voters felt should be given priority - was again evident, although not quite at the levels seen previously. Only 5 of the top 14 candidates in the voting, and none of the top 5, had seen any substantial play since 1917; only 2 of the top 26, and none of the top 19, had played their final season anytime between 1918 and 1933. Players who had been retired over 28 years - 35 of the 76 named - received 53% of the votes. No player received 75% of the vote in this stage; even if the rules had allowed a selection at this point, none would have occurred.

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Individuals who were barred from baseball were still not officially ineligible. Shoeless Joe Jackson received 2 votes; this was the first time since 1937 that anyone who had been thrown out of baseball had received any votes, and it would be the last time any such candidate received any recognized votes. Candidates who have since been selected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics:

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• Frank Chance - 144
• Johnny Evers - 130
• Miller Huggins - 129
• Rube Waddell - 122
• Ed Walsh - 115
• Frankie Frisch - 104
• Carl Hubbell - 101
• Mickey Cochrane - 80
• Clark Griffith - 73
• Lefty Grove - 71
• Pie Traynor - 65
• Mordecai Brown - 56
• Joe Tinker - 55
• Joe McGinnity - 53
• Rabbit Maranville - 50
• Charlie Gehringer - 43
• Herb Pennock - 41
• Dizzy Dean - 40
• Bill Dickey - 40
• Frank Baker - 39
• Chief Bender - 39
• Ray Schalk - 36
• Eddie Plank - 34
• Bill Terry - 31
• Dazzy Vance - 31
• Jimmie Foxx - 26
• Ross Youngs - 25
• Harry Heilmann - 23
• Johnny Kling - 20
• Addie Joss - 14
• Nap Rucker - 13
• Edd Roush - 11
• Sam Crawford - 9
• Babe Adams - 6
• Lou Criger - 6
• Rube Marquard - 6
• Zack Wheat - 6
• "Smokey Joe" Wood - 5
• "Wild Bill" Donovan - 4
• Lefty Gomez - 4
• Paul Waner - 4
• Ted Lyons - 3
• Jesse Burkett - 2
• Donie Bush - 2
• Jack Coombs - 2
• Harry Davis - 2
• Gabby Hartnett - 2
• Shoeless Joe Jackson - 2
• Bill McKechnie - 2
• Dave Bancroft - 1
• Ginger Beaumont - 1
• Bill Bradley - 1
• Jack Chesbro - 1
• John Clarkson - 1
• Gavvy Cravath - 1
• Bill Dinneen - 1
• Jack Dunn - 1
• Eddie Grant - 1
• Charlie Grimm - 1
• Waite Hoyt - 1
• Fielder Jones - 1
• Bill Killefer - 1
• Otto Knabe - 1
• Herman Long - 1
• Sherry Magee - 1
• Pepper Martin - 1
• Kid Nichols - 1
• Deacon Phillippe - 1
• Muddy Ruel - 1
• Jimmy Sheckard - 1
• Al Simmons - 1
• Billy Southworth - 1
• Tully Sparks - 1
• Billy Sullivan - 1
• Jesse Tannehill - 1
• Fred Tenney - 1

The final ballot

The 21 final candidates were listed on the ballot in alphabetical order, as their vote totals in the first round had not been revealed. Because no more than 5 selections were desired at this time, voters were restricted to voting for their top 5 choices; this, of course, did not allow for the fact that candidates were less likely to be among a voter's top 5 choices than they were to be among his top 10, thus making any selections less probable than they otherwise might have been. A total of 263 ballots were cast, with 1318 individual votes for the 21 candidates; 198 votes were required for election. The results were announced on January 23, 1946.

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For the second year in a row, no candidate gained the necessary number of votes, with none even coming within 40 of the required total. As might have been mathematically projected, every candidate got a lower percentage of the vote than they had received on the nomination ballot. As a result of the restriction to 5 choices, only 4 candidates received even half the necessary votes for election. Again, an emphasis on the earliest candidates was evident; the top 6 candidates were all retired by 1917, while the bottom 4 were all active in 1934 or later, with the 11 candidates who were retired over 23 years receiving 65% of the vote.

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The continuing inability to elect anyone created an even greater clamor for radical revision of the selection method. Some suggested that perhaps a lower threshold than 75% was advisable; others proposed that the final ballot should include only 10 names, with voters choosing the top 5. The Hall of Fame Committee, meeting in April and again in December, found it necessary to again overhaul the election method.

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All of the candidates on the ballot were elected by 1955, with the exception of manager Miller Huggins, who was elected in 1964.

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• Frank Chance - 150
• Johnny Evers - 110
• Miller Huggins - 106
• Ed Walsh - 106
• Rube Waddell - 87
• Clark Griffith - 82
• Carl Hubbell - 75
• Frankie Frisch - 67
• Mickey Cochrane - 65
• Lefty Grove - 61
• Pie Traynor - 53
• Mordecai Brown - 48
• Joe McGinnity - 47
• Dizzy Dean - 45
• Joe Tinker - 45
• Frank Baker - 36
• Chief Bender - 35
• Bill Dickey - 32
• Rabbit Maranville - 29
• Charlie Gehringer - 23
• Herb Pennock - 16