Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1946 were conducted by methods refashioned and then fashioned again during the year. As in 1945, the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent players, and elected no one. Also, as in 1945, the Old Timers Committee responded by electing the biggest class yet, then 10 and now 11 people: Jesse Burkett, Frank Chance, Jack Chesbro, Johnny Evers, Clark Griffith, Tommy McCarthy, Joe McGinnity, Eddie Plank, Joe Tinker, Rube Waddell, and Ed Walsh.
The election of the 11 players was announced in April 1946. At that time, Burkett, Evers, Griffith, Tinker, and Walsh were still living. The June 13, 1946, induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, honored former Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who had been elected to the Hall of Fame shortly after his death in late 1944. The players elected in 1946 were inducted—along with players elected the following year—on July 21, 1947, in Cooperstown. Johnny Evers had died in March 1947, and of the four inductees still living, only Ed Walsh was at the ceremony.
Most of those "old timers" were star players from the 1900s and 1910s rather than the 19th century. Afterward, the jurisdiction of the BBWAA was formally reduced to cover only players who retired during the last 25 years; for the 1947 election, those would be players active in 1922 and later. Perhaps the relatively narrow scope would help the writers concentrate their votes on a few candidates. To make certain, the rules for 1947 provided for a runoff ballot in case of no winner on the first ballot. Also, on December 3, 1946, the BBWAA limited voting to writers who had been members for at least 10 years.
BBWAA election 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 two-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 seven of the top 16 candidates. It was hoped that the revised approach and reduced field of candidates would result in up to five new members of the Hall annually.
Nominating stage 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 1,948 individual votes for 76 specific candidates, an average of 9.64 per ballot; 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 five of the top 14 candidates in the voting, and none of the top five, had seen any substantial play since 1917; only two 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 two 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. Candidates who have since been selected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics; players selected by the Old-Timers Committee in 1946 are marked with an asterisk (*).
Player Votes Percent Change Frank Chance* 144 71.3 1.2% Johnny Evers* 130 64.4 10.1% Miller Huggins 129 63.9 10.1% Rube Waddell* 122 60.4 1.9% Ed Walsh* 115 56.9 1.4% Frankie Frisch 104 51.5 10.6% Carl Hubbell 101 50.0 40.3% Mickey Cochrane 80 39.6 11.0% Clark Griffith* 73 36.1 7.6% Lefty Grove 71 35.1 23.8% Pie Traynor 65 32.2 0.6% Mordecai Brown 56 27.7 9.1% Joe Tinker* 55 27.2 7.4% Joe McGinnity* 53 26.2 8.4% Rabbit Maranville 50 24.8 4.2% Charlie Gehringer 43 21.3 17.3% Herb Pennock 41 20.3 2.1% Dizzy Dean 40 19.8 12.9% Bill Dickey 40 19.8 12.9% Frank Baker 39 19.3 8.8% Chief Bender 39 19.3 3.1% Ray Schalk 36 17.8 4.4% Eddie Plank* 34 16.8 3.4% Bill Terry 31 15.3 2.3% Dazzy Vance 31 15.3 8.0% Jimmie Foxx 26 12.9 - Ross Youngs 25 12.4 3.5% Harry Heilmann 23 11.4 9.4% Johnny Kling 20 9.9 5.0% Addie Joss 14 6.9 2.4% Nap Rucker 13 6.4 2.4% Edd Roush 11 5.4 3.4% Sam Crawford 9 4.5 2.9% Babe Adams 6 3.0 0.2% Lou Criger 6 3.0 - Rube Marquard 6 3.0 - Zack Wheat 6 3.0 2.2% "Smoky Joe" Wood 5 2.5 - "Wild Bill" Donovan 4 2.0 0.8% Lefty Gomez 4 2.0 0.8% Paul Waner 4 2.0 - Ted Lyons 3 1.5 0.1% Jesse Burkett* 2 1.0 0.2% Donie Bush 2 1.0 0.6% Jack Coombs 2 1.0 - Harry Davis 2 1.0 0.6% Gabby Hartnett 2 1.0 0.2% Shoeless Joe Jackson 2 1.0 - Bill McKechnie 2 1.0 0.2% Dave Bancroft 1 0.5 - Ginger Beaumont 1 0.5 0.1% Bill Bradley 1 0.5 - Jack Chesbro* 1 0.5 - John Clarkson 1 0.5 - Gavvy Cravath 1 0.5 - Bill Dinneen 1 0.5 0.1% Jack Dunn 1 0.5 0.1% Eddie Grant 1 0.5 0.3% Charlie Grimm 1 0.5 0.1% Waite Hoyt 1 0.5 - Fielder Jones 1 0.5 - Bill Killefer 1 0.5 - Otto Knabe 1 0.5 - Herman Long 1 0.5 0.1% Sherry Magee 1 0.5 0.1% Pepper Martin 1 0.5 0.1% Kid Nichols 1 0.5 1.5% Deacon Phillippe 1 0.5 0.3% Muddy Ruel 1 0.5 - Jimmy Sheckard 1 0.5 0.1% Al Simmons 1 0.5 - Billy Southworth 1 0.5 0.1% Tully Sparks 1 0.5 - Billy Sullivan 1 0.5 - Jesse Tannehill 1 0.5 0.1% Fred Tenney 1 0.5 -
Players who were elected in future elections. These individuals are also indicated in plain italics.
Final ballot 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 five selections were desired at this time, voters were restricted to voting for their top five choices; this, of course, did not allow for the fact that candidates were less likely to be among a voter's top five choices than they were to be among his top ten, 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 five choices, only four candidates received even half the necessary votes for election. Again, an emphasis on the earliest candidates was evident; the top six candidates were all retired by 1917, while the bottom four were all active in 1934 or later, with the eleven 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 ten names, with voters choosing the top five. 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.
Player Votes Percent Change Frank Chance 150 57.0 14.3% Johnny Evers 110 41.8 22.6% Miller Huggins 106 40.3 23.6% Ed Walsh 106 40.3 16.6% Rube Waddell 87 33.1 27.3% Clark Griffith 82 31.2 4.9% Carl Hubbell 75 28.5 21.5% Frankie Frisch 67 25.5 26.0% Mickey Cochrane 65 24.7 14.9% Lefty Grove 61 23.2 11.9% Pie Traynor 53 20.2 12.0% Mordecai Brown 48 18.3 9.4% Joe McGinnity 47 17.9 8.3% Dizzy Dean 45 17.1 2.7% Joe Tinker 45 17.1 10.1% Frank Baker 36 13.7 5.6% Chief Bender 35 13.3 6.0% Bill Dickey 32 12.2 7.6% Rabbit Maranville 29 11.0 13.8% Charlie Gehringer 23 8.7 12.6% Herb Pennock 16 6.1 14.2%
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.
Selections