1947 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
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New inductees | 4 |
---|---|
via BBWAA | 4 |
Total inductees | 53 |
Induction date | July 21, 1947 |
Elections to the
In the wake of the successful BBWAA election, and perhaps in deference to those critics who believed that the 21 selections by the Old-Timers Committee in the previous two years had been too many in such a short time, the Hall of Fame Committee did not meet in 1947 to make further selections from among the players of the era before 1922, or to add names to the Roll of Honor. It was believed, with some optimism, that further revisions in the election process were currently unnecessary.
The new members of the Hall were formally inducted in Cooperstown, New York, on July 21, 1947, along with the previous year's 11 selections by the Old-Timers Committee, with National League president Ford Frick presiding.[1] Ed Walsh, elected in 1946, was the only inductee to attend the ceremony;[1] all four 1947 inductees were still living, as were four of the 1946 selectees.
Reform
After the January 1946 BBWAA election failed to elect any inductees, capping a seven-year period in which only one player had been elected, the
The committee met again in December 1946, and formally revealed its previously unannounced decision that the jurisdictions of the BBWAA would no longer be defined by the fixed year 1900 receding into the past but by a fixed length of time from the present day, initially set at 25 years. Players who retired more than 25 years ago would be considered only by the Old-Timers Committee.
BBWAA election
Eligibility revisions
The committee also revised the two-stage method by which the BBWAA election had been conducted in
The Hall of Fame Committee also instituted a change in the rules regarding eligibility of voters. Previously, all members of the BBWAA were permitted to cast ballots; however, it would now be necessary that a writer have been a BBWAA member for ten years before becoming eligible to vote. This resulted in fewer than half the BBWAA members casting ballots, and a 39% reduction in the number of ballots from the previous year.
Members of the BBWAA now had the authority to select any players active in 1922 or later, provided they had not appeared in a major league game in 1946. Just as in the elections prior to 1946, voters were instructed to cast votes for 10 candidates; any candidate receiving votes on at least 75% of the ballots would be honored with induction to the Hall. If no candidate received votes on 75% of the ballots, the top 20 candidates would advance to the runoff election, with the vote totals from the first ballot not being revealed until the runoff was over.
In addition to many candidates becoming ineligible due to length of retirement, some players who had served in World War II and who had received votes in the 1945 and 1946 elections had now become ineligible once again as a result of appearing in major league games in 1946. Also, the previous year's creation of the
Election results
A total of 161 ballots were cast, with 1,559 individual votes for 39 specific candidates, an average of 9.68 per ballot; 121 votes were required for election. The results were announced in January 1947. For the first time in three elections and five years, the election was successful, electing four new inductees to the Hall; it was the largest group of inductees since the initial selections in
The number of players receiving votes (39) was the lowest for any election yet, and barely half of the previous year's total (76). Very few players received votes who had not appeared in past voting, suggesting that with the new rules in effect, many voters focused on the previous year's results; with only weeks to complete their ballots, there was perhaps a limited effort to look for new candidates who had retired in the years between 1922 and 1945. With precise historical records scarce, and little time to seek them, there may also have been some uncertainty regarding particular candidates as to whether they had retired before or after 1922. Chief Bender, who received 72 votes, had played his last regular season in 1917; he was technically still eligible due to a single inning pitched in 1925, though it is unknown whether voters were aware of this. Bender had been - along with Mordecai Brown, an earlier figure who was more clearly now ineligible - one of only two pre-1920 candidates who received over 10% of the 1946 vote without being selected later by the Old-Timers Committee. Besides Bender, 4 other votes in the 1947 election also went to candidates retired slightly before 1922. With a reduced number of eligible voters, fewer candidates were named on only 1 or 2 ballots.
The trend of the past several years toward earlier players was now completely reversed; whereas players retired for well over 20 years had been receiving 60-70% of the vote, the 1947 election saw players retired for less than 13 years receive 73% of the vote. The top 9 candidates were all active in 1934 or later, and those who played their last season in the 1920s received only 16% of the vote.
The four candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and were elected are indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been selected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics:
Elected to the Hall. These individuals are also indicated in bold italics. | |
Players who were elected in future elections. These individuals are also indicated in plain italics. |
Player | Votes | Percent | Change |
---|---|---|---|
Carl Hubbell | 140 | 87.0 | 37.0% |
Frankie Frisch | 136 | 84.5 | 33.0% |
Mickey Cochrane | 128 | 79.5 | 39.9% |
Lefty Grove | 123 | 76.4 | 41.3% |
Pie Traynor | 119 | 73.9 | 41.7% |
Charlie Gehringer | 105 | 65.2 | 43.9% |
Rabbit Maranville | 91 | 56.5 | 31.7% |
Dizzy Dean | 88 | 54.7 | 34.9% |
Herb Pennock | 86 | 53.4 | 33.1% |
Chief Bender | 72 | 44.7 | 25.4% |
Harry Heilmann | 65 | 40.4 | 29.0% |
Ray Schalk | 50 | 31.1 | 13.3% |
Dazzy Vance | 50 | 31.1 | 15.8% |
Frank Baker | 49 | 30.4 | 11.1% |
Bill Terry | 46 | 28.6 | 13.3% |
Zack Wheat | 37 | 23.0 | 20.0% |
Ross Youngs | 36 | 22.4 | 10.0% |
Smoky Joe Wood | 29 | 18.0 | 15.5% |
Edd Roush | 25 | 15.5 | 10.1% |
Babe Adams | 22 | 13.7 | 10.7% |
Rube Marquard | 18 | 11.2 | 8.2% |
Jimmie Foxx | 10 | 6.2 | 6.7% |
Joe Cronin | 6 | 3.7 | - |
Al Simmons | 6 | 3.7 | 3.2% |
Art Fletcher | 3 | 1.9 | - |
Gavvy Cravath | 2 | 1.2 | 0.7% |
Gabby Hartnett | 2 | 1.2 | 0.2% |
Joe McCarthy
|
2 | 1.2 | - |
Eppa Rixey | 2 | 1.2 | - |
Terry Turner | 2 | 1.2 | - |
Eddie Dyer | 1 | 0.6 | - |
Charlie Gelbert | 1 | 0.6 | - |
Lefty Gomez | 1 | 0.6 | 1.4% |
Hank Gowdy | 1 | 0.6 | - |
Jesse Haines | 1 | 0.6 | - |
Bubbles Hargrave | 1 | 0.6 | - |
George Kelly | 1 | 0.6 | - |
Tony Lazzeri | 1 | 0.6 | - |
Everett Scott | 1 | 0.6 | - |
References
- ^ a b "Hall of Fame Welcomes 15 New Members". Chicago Tribune. AP. July 22, 1947. p. 29. Retrieved October 13, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
External links
- 1947 Election at www.baseballhalloffame.org