Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 2002

The 2002 elections to select inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame proceeded in keeping with rules enacted in 2001. The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) held an election to select from among recent players. The Veterans Committee did not hold an election; the 2001 rules changes provided that elections for players retired over 20 years would be held every other year, with elections of non-players (managers, umpires and executives) held every fourth year. The Committee held elections in 2001 for players who were active no later than 1979. The next Veterans Committee election, for both categories, was in 2003.

The induction ceremonies were held on July 28 in Cooperstown, with Commissioner Bud Selig presiding.

The BBWAA election

The BBWAA was again authorized to elect players active in 1982 or later, but not after 1996; the ballot included candidates from the 2001 ballot who received at least 5% of the vote but were not elected, along with selected players, chosen by a screening committee, whose last appearance was in 1996. All 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to vote.

Voters were instructed to cast votes for up to 10 candidates; any candidate receiving votes on at least 75% of the ballots would be honored with induction to the Hall. Results of the 2002 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 8, 2002. The ballot consisted of 28 players; 472 ballots were cast, with 354 votes required for election. A total of 2810 individual votes were cast, an average of 5.96 per ballot. Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote (24 votes) will not appear on future BBWAA ballots, but may eventually be considered by the Veterans Committee.

Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a †. Luis Tiant was on the ballot for the 15th and final time. The one candidate who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated in "bold italics"; candidates who have since been selected in subsequent elections are indicated in "italics". The 8 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with a *.

Players eligible for the first time who were "not" included on the ballot were: Mike Aldrete, Joe Boever, Chris Bosio, Mark Carreon, Rob Deer, Mark Eichhorn, Felix Fermin, Marvin Freeman, Lee Guetterman, Chris Gwynn, John Habyan, Mel Hall, Steve Howe, Dion James, Mike Kingery, Kirk McCaskill, Roger McDowell, Rich Monteleone, Jeff Parrett, Alejandro Peña, Dick Schofield, Zane Smith, Milt Thompson, and Dave Valle.

J.G. Taylor Spink Award

Joe Falls was elected the winner of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award.

Ford C. Frick Award

Harry Kalas was elected the winner of the Ford C. Frick Award.

External links

* [http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/voting_year.jsp?year=2002 2002 Election] at www.baseballhalloffame.org.