1947 Hall of Fame Election

From BR Bullpen

For the first time since 1942, baseball writers managed to elect someone to the Hall of Fame, as four players, all of them overwhelmingly qualified, made it past the three-quarters vote threshold. These were Carl Hubbell, Frankie Frisch, Mickey Cochrane and Lefty Grove. The voters were still having to sort through a stacked ballot, even with the Old Timers Committee having overstepped its mandate in recent years to poach a number of worthy candidates straight off the writers' list: the next 15 vote-getters, and 19 of the next 20, would all be elected to the Hall, most of them in short order.

There was still some uncertainty about eligibility, as Jimmie Foxx, an obvious Hall of Famer, received 10 votes even though he should not have been eligible, having retired after the 1945 season. Manager Joe McCarthy received a couple of votes even though he never played in the major leagues and also should not have been eligible.

The Old Timers Committee did not meet that year, after ramming through 21 candidates over the previous three years, as efforts were being made to bring it under control.

121 of 161 votes needed for election

Player Votes Result
Carl Hubbell 140 Elected
Frankie Frisch 136 Elected
Mickey Cochrane 128 Elected
Lefty Grove 123 Elected
Pie Traynor 119
Charlie Gehringer 105
Rabbit Maranville 91
Dizzy Dean 88
Herb Pennock 86
Chief Bender 72
Harry Heilmann 65
Ray Schalk 50
Dazzy Vance 50
Frank Baker 49
Bill Terry 46
Zack Wheat 37
Ross Youngs 36
Joe Wood 29
Edd Roush 25
Babe Adams 22
Rube Marquard 18
Jimmie Foxx 10
Al Simmons 6
Joe Cronin 6
Art Fletcher 3
Eppa Rixey 2
Gabby Hartnett 2
Terry Turner 2
Joe McCarthy 2
Gavvy Cravath 2
Hank Gowdy 1
Eddie Dyer 1
Lefty Gomez 1
Jesse Haines 1
Bubbles Hargrave 1
Everett Scott 1
George Kelly 1
Tony Lazzeri 1
Charlie Gelbert 1