Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2006 proceeded in keeping with rules enacted in 2001, augmented by a special election; the result was the largest class of inductees (18) in the Hall's history, including the first woman elected, Effa Manley.
The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) held an election to select from among recent players, voting Bruce Sutter into the Hall. On July 26, 2005, the Hall announced that its board of directors had approved a special election to be held in 2006, by the Committee on African-American Baseball, of Negro leagues and pre-Negro leagues candidates. The Committee selected 17 players and executives for induction.
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 voted in 2005 on players who were active no later than 1983; there was no 2005 election for non-players. Elections in both categories were held in 2007.
Induction ceremonies in Cooperstown were held July 30 with Commissioner Bud Selig presiding.
BBWAA election The BBWAA was again authorized to elect players active in 1986 or later, but not after 2000; the ballot, announced on November 28, 2005, included candidates from the 2005 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 2000. 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 2006 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 10. The ballot consisted of 29 players; 520 ballots were cast, with 390 votes required for election. A total of 2933 individual votes were cast, an average of 5.64 per ballot. Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote will not appear on future BBWAA ballots, but may eventually be considered by the Veterans Committee.
Pete Rose, who last played in 1986, was again not included on the ballot due to his banishment from baseball in what was theoretically his final opportunity, as players retired over 20 years can not be considered by the BBWAA under current rules; however, Hall of Fame chair Jane Forbes Clark indicated prior to the ballot announcement that if Rose is ever reinstated by Major League Baseball, the Hall's board of directors might review the rules in light of the fact that Rose never had an opportunity to appear on a BBWAA ballot.
Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a dagger (†). The 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 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk (*).
PlayerVotesPercentChangeYearBruce Sutter40076.910.3%13thJim Rice33764.8 5.4%12thGoose Gossage33664.6 9.4%7thAndre Dawson31761.0 8.7%5thBert Blyleven27753.312.5%9thLee Smith23445.0 6.8%4thJack Morris21441.2 7.9%7thTommy John15429.6 5.8%12thSteve Garvey13526.0 5.5%14thAlan Trammell9217.7 0.8%5thDave Parker7614.6 2.1%10thDave Concepción6512.5 1.9%13thDon Mattingly6412.3 0.9%6thOrel Hershiser5811.2-1stDale Murphy5610.8 0.4%8thAlbert Belle407.7-1stWill Clark*234.4-1stDwight Gooden*173.3-1stWillie McGee*122.3 2.7%2ndOzzie Guillén*51.0-1stHal Morris*51.0-1stGary Gaetti*40.8-1stJohn Wetteland*40.8-1stRick Aguilera*30.6-1stGregg Jefferies*20.4-1stDoug Jones*20.4-1stWalt Weiss*10.2-1stGary DiSarcina*00.0-1stAlex Fernandez*00.0-1st
The newly eligible candidates included 18 All-Stars, six of whom were not on the ballot, representing 46 selections. Only two players were named to five or more All-Star Games: Will Clark (six times) and Albert Belle (five). Included in the class were three Rookie of the Year Award winners (Dwight Gooden, Ozzie Guillén and Walt Weiss) and two Cy Young Award winners (Orel Hershiser and Dwight Gooden).
Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Rich Amaral, Tim Belcher, Stan Belinda, Gerónimo Berroa, Sean Berry, Mark Clark, Dave Eiland, Kevin Elster, Eric Gunderson, Juan Guzmán, Carlos Hernández, Thomas Howard, Jeff Huson, Lance Johnson, Scott Kamieniecki, Roberto Kelly, Jim Leyritz, Mike Maddux, Mickey Morandini, Mike Munoz, Jaime Navarro, Charlie O'Brien, Steve Ontiveros, Luis Polonia, Jim Poole, Jeff Reed, Heathcliff Slocumb, Mike Stanley, Lenny Webster, and Mark Whiten.
The Committee on African-American Baseball In July 2000, the Hall was given a $250,000 grant from Major League Baseball to begin a comprehensive study on African Americans in baseball from 1860–1960, with the hope of enhancing the Hall's collections in these areas. In February 2001, the Hall selected three historians – Dr. Larry Hogan, Dick Clark and Larry Lester – to conduct the study, which involved over 50 other researchers and authors. The resulting study was a narrative, bibliography, and statistical database, including 3,000 day-by-day records, league leaders and all-time leaders, collected from box scores in 128 newspapers of sanctioned Negro league games played from 1920–1954. The box scores reflect almost 100% of games of the 1920s, over 90% of the games played in the 1930s, and 50-70% of games in the 1940s and 1950s. In February 2006, National Geographic published a book featuring material from the study, in conjunction with the Hall, called Shades of Glory; it covers not only the development of the game, but also its impact within the African American community. Pride and Passion, an exhibit focusing on the history of African American baseball, debuted at the Hall's museum in April 2006.
Screening process In July 2005 the Hall's board of directors appointed two expert committees, a screening committee of five and a voting committee of twelve. Former Commissioner of Baseball Fay Vincent served as the non-voting chairman of both committees and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson served as an advisor and assistant to Vincent and the committees. Written recommendations from fans and non-committee members were accepted through October 2005 (stage one). From the many candidates recommended, 94 were selected for consideration by the screening committee. These second-stage nominations were the first ones published (stage two). Newt Allen – Walter Ball – Sam Bankhead – Bernardo Baró – John Beckwith – William Bell – Ed Bolden – Chet Brewer – Chester Brooks – Dave Brown – Larry Brown – Ray Brown – Willard Brown – Bill Byrd – Walter Cannady – Bill Cash – Phil Cockrell – Pancho Coimbre – Andy Cooper – Bingo DeMoss – Rap Dixon – John Donaldson – Frank Duncan – José Fernández – Bud Fowler – Jelly Gardner – Charlie Grant – Frank Grant – Gus Greenlee – Vic Harris – Pete Hill – Bill Holland – Sammy T. Hughes – Fats Jenkins – Sam Jethroe – Home Run Johnson – Heavy Johnson – Henry Kimbro – Frank Leland – Dick Lundy – Jimmie Lyons – Biz Mackey – Dave Malarcher – Abe Manley – Effa Manley – Max Manning – Oliver Marcell – J. B. Martin – Horacio Martínez – Verdell Mathis – Dan McClellan – Hurley McNair – José Méndez – Minnie Miñoso – Bill Monroe – Dobie Moore – Alejandro Oms – Buck O'Neil – Red Parnell – John Patterson – Jap Payne – Bruce Petway – Spottswood Poles – Alex Pompez – Cumberland Posey – Alex Radcliffe – Ted Radcliffe – Dick Redding – Neal Robinson – Nat Rogers – Louis Santop – George Scales – Chino Smith – Clarence Smith – George Stovey – Mule Suttles – Ben Taylor – C. I. Taylor – Candy Jim Taylor – Cristóbal Torriente – Juan Vargas – Moses Walker – Frank Warfield – Chaney White – Sol White – Frank Wickware – Wabishaw Wiley – J. L. Wilkinson – Clarence Williams – George Williams – George Wilson – Jud Wilson – Nip Winters – Bill Wright
Using statistics and other historical material from the Hall's earlier study, the screening committee met in November at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida to create two ballots – one for Negro league players, managers, umpires and executives, and another for candidates whose careers mainly preceded the leagues—this is, before 1920. The committee members and listed areas of expertise were Adrian Burgos (Latin America), Dick Clark (Negro leagues), Larry Hogan (overall history), Larry Lester (Negro leagues) and Jim Overmyer (eastern teams and 19th century). They cut the 94 nominees to ten pre-Negro leagues and 29 Negro leagues candidates (stage three).
The following candidates appeared on the two final ballots:
Negro leagues: Newt Allen – John Beckwith – William Bell – Chet Brewer – Ray Brown – Willard Brown – Bill Byrd – Andy Cooper – Rap Dixon – John Donaldson – Sammy T. Hughes – Fats Jenkins – Dick Lundy – Biz Mackey – Effa Manley – Oliver Marcelle – Minnie Miñoso – Dobie Moore – Alejandro Oms – Buck O'Neil – Red Parnell – Alex Pompez – Cumberland Posey – George Scales – Mule Suttles – Candy Jim Taylor – C. I. Taylor – Cristóbal Torriente – J. L. Wilkinson – Jud Wilson
Pre-Negro leagues: Frank Grant – Pete Hill – Home Run Johnson – José Méndez – Spottswood Poles – Dick Redding – Louis Santop – Ben Taylor – Sol White
According to Hall president Dale Petroskey, "The screening committee did a great job of handling the first step of narrowing the list of candidates to those who should be seriously considered for election to the Hall of Fame." Vincent added, "I'm very satisfied with the work done by the screening committee. The committee members had some difficult choices to make, but because they are extremely knowledgeable, had strong research at their disposal and spent a great deal of time reviewing all candidates thoroughly, they did a tremendous job. The final ballots represent players, managers, executives and builders who are top-tier candidates and worthy of review for consideration for election to the Hall of Fame."
Final ballots The 39 candidates on the final ballots were announced on November 21. The voting committee met in Tampa, Florida on February 25 for two days of discussion, after which they cast paper ballots with a "yes" or "no" for every candidate. Those who received "yes" votes on at least 75% of the ballots would be elected. The seven additional voting committee members and listed areas of expertise were Todd Bolton (Latin America), Greg Bond (19th century), Ray Doswell (overall history), Leslie Heaphy (women's history, Negro leagues), Rob Ruck (Negro leagues eastern teams), Sammy Miller (eastern and western teams), and Robert W. Peterson (overall history). Ruck replaced Neil Lanctot, author of two books on Negro league baseball. Peterson died on February 11, but he had submitted an absentee ballot two days earlier and the other committee members voted unanimously to accept it.
The results were announced February 27: seventeen new members had been elected to the Hall. All were deceased. The Newark-based executive Effa Manley would be the first woman in the Hall of Fame. Ray Brown, pitcher for the Homestead Grays from 1932 to 1945 who had a career .704 winning percentage and a one-hitter in the 1944 Negro League World Series. Willard Brown, right fielder for the Kansas City Monarchs from 1936 to 1950 who won several home run titles and was the first black player to hit a home run in the American League. Andy Cooper, pitcher with the Detroit Stars and Monarchs from 1920 to 1941 who had a career .671 winning percentage and held the Negro leagues' career record for saves. Frank Grant, second baseman in integrated minor leagues and with all-black teams from 1886 to 1903. Pete Hill, center fielder from 1899 to 1926 who batted over .300 ten times.