Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1946

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 ten and now eleven people: Jesse Burkett, Frank Chance, Jack Chesbro, Johnny Evers, Clark Griffith, Tommy McCarthy, Joe McGinnity, Eddie Plank, Joe Tinker, Rube Waddell, and Ed Walsh.

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; in 1947 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 a runoff in case of no winner on the first ballot. On Dec. 3, the BBWAA also limited voting to writers who had been members for at least ten years.

The eleven old timers were selected in the summer of 1946 and inducted as part of the 1947 ceremonies. Among them, Ed Walsh alone was present.

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 2-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.

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