Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 2005

Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2005 proceeded in keeping with rules enacted in 2001. The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) held an election to select from recent players, and the Veterans Committee held a separate election to select from players retired more than 20 years.

Induction ceremonies in Cooperstown were held July 31 with Commissioner Bud Selig presiding.

The BBWAA was again authorized to elect players active in 1985 or later, but not after 1999; the ballot included candidates from the 2004 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 1999. 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 2005 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 4. The ballot consisted of 27 players; 516 ballots were cast, with 387 votes required for election. A total of 3263 individual votes were cast, an average of 6.32 per ballot. Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote (26 votes) 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 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 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 a *.

The newly-eligible candidates included 10 All Stars (two of whom were not on the ballot), who were selected for a combined total of 43 times. Wade Boggs, a 12-time All Star, and Darryl Strawberry, an eight-time All Star, were the only new candidates selected five or more times. The ballot included one Rookie of the Year (Strawberry), one Cy Young Award-winner (Jack McDowell), and one MVP (Willie McGee).

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