1936 Hall of Fame Election

The Hall of Fame held its first election in 1936. The writers were instructed to pick up to ten players. There were no rules regarding active players. As a result, eight future Hall of Famers, who were still active players, received votes. None of them were elected but Babe Ruth was, becoming the first of just three players to be elected without the five-year waiting period.

The five players who were named on 75% of the ballots were inducted in 1939.

There were 226 ballots cast. 170 votes were needed for election.

Player	Votes	Result
Ty Cobb	222	Elected
Babe Ruth	215	Elected
Honus Wagner	215	Elected
Christy Mathewson	205	Elected
Walter Johnson	189	Elected
Nap Lajoie	146
Tris Speaker	133
Cy Young	111
Rogers Hornsby	105
Mickey Cochrane	80
George Sisler	77
Eddie Collins	60
Jimmy Collins	58
Pete Alexander	55
Lou Gehrig	51
Roger Bresnahan	47
Willie Keeler	40
Rube Waddell	33
Jimmie Foxx	21
Ed Walsh	20
Ed Delahanty	17
Pie Traynor	16
Frankie Frisch	14
Lefty Grove	12
Hal Chase	11
Ross Youngs	10
Bill Terry	9
Johnny Kling	8
Lou Criger	7
Mordecai Brown	6
Johnny Evers	6
Frank Chance	5
Al Simmons	4
Ray Schalk	4
John McGraw	4
Edd Roush	2
Chief Bender	2
Joe Jackson	2
Bill Bradley	1
Fred Clarke	1
Frank Baker	1
Dazzy Vance	1
Gabby Hartnett	1
Sam Crawford	1
Jake Daubert	1
Dizzy Dean	1
Kid Elberfeld	1
Rube Marquard	1
Charlie Gehringer	1
Connie Mack	1
Nap Rucker	1

Further Reading

• Paul Casella: "Ruth in, Cy out: Remembering inaugural HOF Class of 1936", mlb.com, February 1, 2022. [1]