Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2014 proceeded according to rules most recently revised in July 2010. As in the past, the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from a ballot of recently retired players, with results announced on January 8, 2014. The Expansion Era Committee, one of three voting panels that replaced the more broadly defined Veterans Committee following the July 2010 rules change, convened early in December 2013 to select from a ballot of retired players and non-playing personnel who made their greatest contributions to the sport after 1972, a time frame that the Hall of Fame calls the "Expansion Era".

The induction class consisted of managers Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa, and Joe Torre, elected by the Expansion Era Committee, and Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas, elected by the BBWAA.

The induction ceremonies were held on July 27, 2014, at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. On the day before the actual induction ceremony, the annual Hall of Fame Awards Presentation took place. At that event, the Hall presented two awards for media excellence—its own Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters and the BBWAA's J. G. Taylor Spink Award for writers. In addition, the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award was also handed out; under the rules for that award, last presented in 2011, it may be presented no more frequently than every third year.

BBWAA election

The BBWAA ballot was announced on November 26, 2013. The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1994 or later, but not after 2008; the ballot included the following categories of players: Candidates from the 2013 ballot who received at least 5% of the vote but were not elected, as long as their first appearance on the BBWAA ballot was in 2000 or later. Individuals chosen by a screening committee whose last game appearance was in or before 2008.

All 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to vote, and had until December 31, 2013, to return their ballots to the Hall.

The ballot consisted of 17 of the 18 candidates who received at least 5% of the vote in the 2013 election, plus 19 first-time candidates. (The other candidate who received 5% or more of the 2013 vote, Dale Murphy, dropped off the ballot after 15 years.) Voters were instructed to cast votes for up to 10 candidates. Under BBWAA rules, write-in votes were not permitted.

Results of the 2013 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 8, 2014. A total of 571 ballots were cast (including one ballot which supported no candidates), with 429 votes required for election. A total of 4,793 individual votes were cast, an average of 8.39 per ballot—the highest per-ballot average since 1960 (8.51 votes per ballot), the first per-ballot average of 8 or higher since 1983 (8.36), and the first per-ballot average of even 7 or higher since 1986 (7.04). According to former BBWAA president Bill Shaiklin, 50% of all voters filled out all 10 available slots on their ballots, up from 22% in 2013. Any candidate who received votes on at least 75% of the ballots would be inducted. Those candidates who received less than 5% of the vote 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 with a dagger (†). The candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and were elected are indicated in bold italics; candidates selected in subsequent elections, if any, will be indicated in italics.

Jack Morris was on the ballot for the 15th and final time.

PlayerVotes(571 cast)PercentChangeYearGreg Maddux 555 97.2%–1stTom Glavine 525 91.9%–1stFrank Thomas 478 83.7%–1stCraig Biggio 427 74.8%6.6%2ndMike Piazza 355 62.2%4.4%2ndJack Morris 351 61.5%6.2%15thJeff Bagwell 310 54.3%5.3%4thTim Raines 263 46.1%6.1%7thRoger Clemens 202 35.4%2.2%2ndBarry Bonds 198 34.7%1.5%2ndLee Smith 171 29.9%17.9%12thCurt Schilling 167 29.2%9.6%2ndEdgar Martínez 144 25.2%10.7%5thAlan Trammell 119 20.8%12.8%13thMike Mussina 116 20.3%–1stJeff Kent 87 15.2%–1stFred McGriff 67 11.7%9.0%5thMark McGwire 63 11.0%5.8%8thLarry Walker 58 10.2%11.4%4thDon Mattingly 47 8.2%5.0%14thSammy Sosa 41 7.2%5.3% 2ndRafael Palmeiro* 25 4.4%4.4%4thMoisés Alou* 6 1.1%–1stHideo Nomo* 6 1.1%–1stLuis Gonzalez* 5 0.9%–1stÉric Gagné* 2 0.4%–1stJ. T. Snow* 2 0.4%–1stArmando Benítez* 1 0.2% –1stJacque Jones* 1 0.2%–1stKenny Rogers* 1 0.2%–1stSean Casey* 0 0.0%–1stRay Durham* 0 0.0% –1stTodd Jones* 0 0.0%–1stPaul Lo Duca* 0 0.0%–1stRichie Sexson* 0 0.0%–1stMike Timlin* 0 0.0%–1st

The newly eligible candidates included 28 All-Stars, 12 of whom were not on the ballot, representing a total of 83 All-Star selections. Among the candidates were 10-time All-Star and 2-time Cy Young Award winner Tom Glavine, 8-time All-Star and 4-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux, 6-time All-Star Moisés Alou, 5-time All-Star and 2-time MVP Award winner Frank Thomas, 5-time All-Star and 1-time MVP Award winner Jeff Kent, and 5-time All-Stars Luis Gonzalez. The field included 1995 NL Rookie of the Year Hideo Nomo, two MVPs (Kent and Thomas), three Cy Young Award winners (Glavine, Maddux and Éric Gagné). The field included four candidates with at least five Gold Glove Awards: Maddux (18 at pitcher, a record), Mussina (7 at pitcher), Kenny Rogers (5 at pitcher) and J. T. Snow (6 at first base).

As in most recent elections, it was expected that the controversy over use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) was likely to dominate the elections. ESPN.com columnist Jim Caple noted in the days before the announcement of the 2012 results that the PED issue and the BBWAA's limit of 10 votes per ballot was likely to result in a major backlog in upcoming elections:Due to the steroid issue and a general lack of consensus, the following players will probably be on the ballot in three years: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Sammy Sosa, Jeff Bagwell, John Smoltz, Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Mike Mussina, Jeff Kent, Larry Walker, Alan Trammell, Fred McGriff, Rafael Palmeiro, Lee Smith, Tim Raines, Gary Sheffield, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling and, of course, Bernie [Williams]. That's 21 players who warrant serious consideration. And that's not counting Barry Larkin, who might be [Ed. – and was] elected this year, and also assuming Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Craig Biggio and Frank Thomas make it their first years on the ballot. Finding room for Bonds, Clemens, Pedro, Johnson and others means I'll have to dump more good players from my ballot than the Marlins dumped after winning the 1997 World Series.

Several other players returning from the 2013 ballot with otherwise-strong Hall credentials have been linked to PEDs, among them Mark McGwire (who admitted to long-term steroid use in 2010), Jeff Bagwell (who never tested positive, but was the subject of PED rumors during his career), and Rafael Palmeiro (who tested positive for stanozolol shortly after denying that he had ever used steroids).

Players who were eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Tony Armas Jr., Gary Bennett, Joe Borowski, Jose Cruz Jr., Mike DiFelice, Damion Easley, Scott Elarton, Shawn Estes, Sal Fasano, Keith Foulke, Scott Hatteberg, Geoff Jenkins, Jason Johnson, Ray King, Jon Lieber, Esteban Loaiza, Kent Mercker, Matt Morris, Trot Nixon, Abraham Nunez, Odalis Perez, Tomas Perez, Mark Redman, Alberto Reyes, Ricardo Rincon, Dave Roberts, Rudy Seanez, Shannon Stewart, Tanyon Sturtze, Mark Sweeney, Salomon Torres, Steve Trachsel, Javier Valentin, Jose Vidro, Daryle Ward, and Dmitri Young.

Controversies Following the vote, a number of writers expressed concern about what they viewed as a flawed election process.

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com noted about this election,It wasn't exactly a perfect day for any of us who care about this process, because it sledgehammered home this painful reminder of the enduring Hall of Fame crisis of the 21st century: We still have no idea how to resolve the fate of many of the greatest players of all time. Now do we?...Is this what we want -- a Hall that attempts to pretend that players who just happen to hold some of the greatest records in the entire record book are now invisible to the naked eye?

Jonah Keri, writing for the ESPN outlet Grantland, remarked,Short of dropping the required share of the vote well below 75 percent, I think there's a good chance that the voters' failure to elect candidates who not only match but raise the bar on existing inductees has put us in an intractable position. That position will leave many obviously worthy players at the mercy of the Expansion Era Committee, or whatever the veterans committees will be called 10 or 12 years from now. And not to be overly dramatic about it, but there's a reasonable chance that some of those players will either never make it in or be dead by the time they do, the way Ron Santo was when he got his long-overdue induction.

It was also revealed that voter Dan Le Batard had allowed Deadspin to use his vote. The website was protesting the "absurd election process" by submitting to BBWAA the results from a poll of its readers. He was subsequently permanently stripped of his Hall of Fame voting privileges.Baseball Writers Association Revokes Dan Le Batard's Hall Of Fame Vote from All Access (January 9, 2014)

Expansion Era Committee

In keeping with the current voting procedure by eras, the BBWAA-appointed Historical Overview Committee, made up of 11 BBWAA members, identified 12 Expansion Era candidates who were judged to have made their greatest contributions after 1972; this group was previously considered in 2011. Although several managers and executives and one umpire from this period were selected between 1993 and 2011, no player from this period has yet been elected by any of the forms of the Veterans Committee. Along with the post-1972 era, these criteria defined the consideration set: Players who played in at least 10 major league seasons, who are not on Major League Baseball's ineligible list (e.g., Pete Rose), and have been retired for 16 or more seasons (players last active in 1997 or earlier); Managers and umpires with 10 or more years in baseball and retired for at least five years. Candidates who are 65 years or older are eligible six months following retirement; Executives retired for at least five years. Active executives 65 years or older are eligible for consideration.

The eleven BBWAA-appointed Historical Overview Committee members were Dave Van Dyck (Chicago Tribune); Bob Elliott (Toronto Sun); Steve Hirdt (Elias Sports Bureau); Rick Hummel (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); Bill Madden (New York Daily News); Ken Nigro (formerly The Baltimore Sun); Jack O'Connell (BBWAA secretary/treasurer); Tracy Ringolsby (Fox Sports Rocky Mountain/MLB.com); Glenn Schwarz (formerly San Francisco Chronicle); Claire Smith (ESPN); and Mark Whicker (Orange County Register).

The ballot for election by the Expansion Era Committee was released on November 4, 2013, and the Hall of Fame announced the results on December 9. The cutoff for election and summer 2014 induction remains the standard 75%, or 12 of 16 votes.

CandidateCategoryVotesPercentRef Bobby Cox Manager 16 100% Tony La Russa Manager 16 100% Joe Torre Manager 16 100% Dave Concepción Player <6 Steve Garvey Player <6 Tommy John Player <6 Billy Martin Manager <6 Marvin Miller Executive <6 Dave Parker Player <6 Dan Quisenberry Player <6 Ted Simmons Player <6 George Steinbrenner Executive <6

Dave Concepcion, Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Billy Martin, Marvin Miller, Dave Parker, Dan Quisneberry, Ted Simmons and George Steinbrenner each received six or fewer votes.