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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
Votes by members of the BBWAA
were tabulated by the National
Baseball Hall of Fame. At least 152 votes were needed to be elected.
(Winners in bold.)
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.
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.
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.
All of the candidates on the ballot were elected by 1955, with the
exception of manager Miller Huggins, who was elected in 1964.
Votes by members of the BBWAA
were tabulated by the National
Baseball Hall of Fame. At least 198 votes were needed to be elected.
(Winners in bold.)
Source: National Baseball Hall of
Fame. Special thanks to Keith Hemmelman for compiling the data.
The Old-Timers Committee
After its 1945
selections, the committee had intended to review the pitchers from the
pre-1910 era and to also re-focus on the earlier 19th century players; but
after the BBWAA had failed to select any inductees for the second year in
a row, and with only one player chosen by the BBWAA since 1939, it was
generally accepted that a dramatic revision of the election process by the
Hall of Fame Committee was necessary. The committee firmly agreed that any
flaws in the rules were causing errors of omission rather than ones of
liberality in selections, and that the wide field of candidates from the
entire 20th century was making it unlikely that any candidate could draw
75% of the vote from the BBWAA.
The committee members were: Hall of Fame president Stephen C. Clark,
who chaired the committee; Hall of Fame treasurer Paul S. Kerr, the
committee secretary; former Yankees president Ed Barrow; Athletics
owner/manager Connie Mack; former Braves president Bob Quinn; and Boston
sportswriter Mel Webb. New York sportswriter Harry Cross, who had been
named in February to fill the vacancy created by the death of Sid Mercer,
also died on April 4. On April 23, the members of the committee met in New
York City to consider their selections and to make further revisions in
the election process. In May, Grantland Rice was named to fill the vacancy
on the committee, and another major revision in the BBWAA voting process
was enacted at their meeting in December.
The committee determined that the candidates from the early part of the
century were gaining the most support, but would likely never reach the
necessary threshold of 75% due to the fact that many younger writers were
reluctant to vote for players about whom they had limited first-hand
knowledge. In 1945 the committee had believed that only a handful of those
early candidates whose careers bridged the turn of the century needed to
be removed from BBWAA consideration in order to facilitate elections; they
were now more certain that they needed to select players whose careers began
after 1900, and extended through the 1910s, in order to break the deadlock
in the BBWAA voting. There was even some support on the committee from
eliminating the BBWAA from the process entirely, due to their inability
for several years to agree on appropriate inductees.
The committee selected 11 inductees - 5 of whom were still living -
including the first two left-handed pitchers to reach the Hall. They were
formally inducted on July 21, 1947, with National League president Ford
Frick officiating; however, of the 4 still living at that time (Johnny
Evers died in the interim), only Ed Walsh attended the ceremonies:
Jesse
Burkett, a left fielder who played primarily in Cleveland and St.
Louis from 1890 to 1905; he compiled a .338 career batting average,
hitting over .400 twice and winning 3 batting titles. His 240 hits in
1896 stand as the 19th century record, and his 2850 career hits ranked
behind only Cap Anson's total upon his retirement. His ability to foul
off pitches was a factor in baseball's move to count fouls as strikes.
He later won 4 pennants as a minor league manager before coaching at
Holy Cross and then becoming a scout for the New York Giants.
Frank
Chance, the first baseman and manager, known as the "Peerless
Leader", of the great Chicago Cubs teams from 1898 to 1912. The
team won 4 pennants between 1906 and 1910, winning a record 116 games
in 1906 for a .763 winning percentage. He was widely considered
baseball's best right-handed first baseman, and remains the only
player at that position to steal 400 bases. He later managed the
Yankees and Red Sox, and had been hired to manage the White Sox before
dying at age 47.
Jack
Chesbro, a spitball pitcher from 1899 to 1909, winning 198 games.
His 41 wins in 1904 stand as the modern record, and he won over 20
three other times. He led both leagues once each in wins and winning
percentage.
Johnny
Evers, the star second baseman on the Cubs and Boston Braves from
1902 to 1917, he was named the NL's Most Valuable Player in 1914 with
the "Miracle Braves." Arriving in the majors when he weighed
under 100 pounds (45 kg), he was consistently one of the sport's most
dynamic figures, and his alertness helped capture the 1908 pennant
with a famous defensive move. He was a manager or coach for 4 teams
from 1920 to 1932, later working as a scout.
Clark
Griffith, a pitcher who won 237 games between 1891 and 1906,
collecting over 20 wins seven times. He managed 4 teams from 1901 to
1920, winning the first AL pennant with the White Sox; he not only
managed
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Awards