Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1997

The 1997 elections to select inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame followed the same system in use since 1995. The BBWAA election continued to apply a 75% rule to all eligible players, while the Veterans Committee met in closed door sessions to select from players ineligible for the BBWAA election, as well as managers and executives.

The BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1977 or later, but not after 1991; the ballot included candidates from the 1996 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 1991. 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. The ballot consisted of 30 players; 473 ballots were cast, with 353 votes required for election. 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 †. 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 ten candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with a *.

Dick Allen and Joe Torre were on the ballot for the 15th and final time.

Players eligible for the first time who were "not" included on the ballot were: Marty Barrett, Tony Bernazard, Oil Can Boyd, Greg Brock, Carmen Castillo, Jim Clancy, Steve Crawford, Warren Cromartie, Scott Garrelts, Ron Hassey, Andy Hawkins, Mike Heath, Danny Heep, Tom Herr, Ron Kittle, Mike LaCoss, Dave LaPoint, Vance Law, Rick Mahler, Mike Marshall, Andy McGaffigan, Lloyd Moseby, Pascual Pérez, Dan Petry, Dan Schatzeder, John Shelby, Eric Show, Max Venable, Ed Whitson, Ernie Whitt, and Mookie Wilson.

External links

* [http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/voting_year.jsp?year=1997 1997 Election] at www.baseballhalloffame.org.