1954 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting explained

New Inductees:3
Bbwaa:3
Inductees:73
Date:August 9, 1954
Before:1953
After:1955

Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1954 followed a system practically the same as in 1952 because the new Veterans Committee was meeting only in odd-number years (until 1962).The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent players and elected three: Bill Dickey, Rabbit Maranville, and Bill Terry. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on August 9, 1954, with Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick presiding.[1]

BBWAA election

Any candidate receiving votes on at least 75% of the ballots would be honored with induction to the Hall. Votes were cast for 53 players; a total of 252 ballots were cast, with 189 votes required for election. A total of 2,091 individual votes were cast, an average of 8.30 per ballot.

The three candidates who received 75% of the vote and were elected are indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. Players were eligible if they had finished their career between 1928 and 1952. Starting with this election, players had to have been retired from baseball (including no longer working as a manager) for a minimum of five seasons to be eligible, unless they had received at least 100 votes in the prior year's election—those who qualified under this clause were Joe DiMaggio and Ted Lyons.[2]

PlayerVotesPercentChange
Rabbit Maranville20982.9 20.8%
Bill Dickey20280.2 12.4%
Bill Terry19577.4 5.1%
Joe DiMaggio17569.4 25.1%
Ted Lyons17067.5 14.8%
Dazzy Vance15862.7 5.9%
Gabby Hartnett15159.9 20.5%
Hank Greenberg9738.5 8.2%
Joe Cronin8533.7 7.6%
Max Carey5521.8 1.0%
Ray Schalk5421.4 1.7%
Edd Roush5220.6 8.5%
Hank Gowdy5120.2 1.8%
Hack Wilson4819.0 2.7%
Lefty Gomez3815.1 1.8%
Ross Youngs3413.5 1.8%
Zack Wheat3313.1 1.0%
Tony Lazzeri3011.9 1.3%
Red Ruffing2911.5 2.4%
Kiki Cuyler207.9 1.1%
Duffy Lewis207.9 0.3%
Jim Bottomley166.3 2.5%
Rube Marquard156.0 1.2%
Waite Hoyt145.6 0.3%
Babe Adams135.2 1.2%
Dickie Kerr135.2 0.3%
Red Faber124.8 1.4%
Chuck Klein114.4-
Dave Bancroft104.0 0.2%
Sam Rice93.6 2.5%
Jimmie Wilson83.2 0.6%
Wilbur Cooper72.8 0.6%
Art Nehf72.8 1.3%
Jesse Haines62.4 0.9%
Eppa Rixey52.0 0.9%
Muddy Ruel52.0 1.0%
Howard Ehmke41.6 0.5%
Everett Scott41.6 0.3%
Bill Wambsganss41.6 1.2%
Cy Williams41.6 0.1%
Clyde Milan31.2 0.8%
Nick Altrock20.8 0.4%
Chick Hafey20.8
Arky Vaughan20.8 0.4%
Lu Blue10.4-
Ossie Bluege10.4-
Goose Goslin10.4-
Heinie Groh10.4-
Babe Herman10.4 0.4%
Travis Jackson10.4 0.4%
Roger Peckinpaugh10.4 0.4%
Joe Sewell10.4-
Glenn Wright10.4 0.7%
Key to colors
    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.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Frick Sees Baseball Still in 'Infrancy' . . . 16 . August 10, 1954 . October 13, 2019 . newspapers.com.
  2. News: Late Rabbit Maraville Enters Baseball Hall Of Fame, Followed By Dickey And Terry . Jack . Hand . . . 14 . January 21, 1954 . Google News.