Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1962

Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1962 followed a new system for even-number years. Since 1956 the Baseball Writers Association of America and Veterans Committee had alternated in their duties but the BBWAA, voting by mail to select from recent major league players, had elected no one for 1958 and no one for 1960. Now there would be a second, "runoff" election in case of no winner. At the same time the Veterans Committee resumed meeting annually to consider executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players.

The provision for a runoff election was not necessary yet, for the writers elected two new candidates on their first ballot, Bob Feller and Jackie Robinson. The Veteran's Committee also selected two people, Bill McKechnie and Edd Roush, both of whom were still alive to be interviewed and invited to the induction ceremonies.

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1932 or later, but not after 1956. All 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to vote.

Voters were instructed to cast their 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. A total of 77 players received votes; 160 ballots were cast, with 120 votes required for election. A total of 1,084 individual votes were cast, an average of 6.78 per ballot.

Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a †. The two candidates who received at least 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.

Sam Rice, Eppa Rixey, Burleigh Grimes, Hack Wilson, Kiki Cuyler, Red Faber, Jim Bottomley, Lefty Gomez, Waite Hoyt, Heinie Manush, Goose Goslin, Lefty O'Doul, Tony Lazzeri, Chick Hafey, Freddie Lindstrom, Earle Combs, Jimmie Dykes, Jimmie Wilson, Earl Averill, Jesse Haines, Charlie Grimm, Firpo Marberry, Wes Ferrell, Freddie Fitzsimmons, Travis Jackson, George Kelly, Red Rolfe, Luke Sewell, Riggs Stephenson and Glenn Wright were eligible for the final time. Many of these candidates would lose eligibility before the 1964 election due to a rule change effecting the retirement qualifications of those voted on by the BBWAA; while the BBWAA had previously been able to consider those who had been retired between five and thirty seasons, after this election the BBWAA were to consider those who had been retired between five and twenty seasons. Among the candidates who were affected by this rule change and would not appear on the 1964 BBWAA ballot, the top two vote receivers (Rice and Rixey) were elected by the Veterans Committee in 1963.

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