2015 Hall of Fame Election

The results of the in the 2015 Hall of Fame Election were announced on January 6, 2015. Those of the Veterans Committee vote were announced on December 8, 2014 during the annual Winter Meetings. While the Veterans Committee failed to elect anyone, the BBWAA elected four players, including three in their first year of eligibility, making this one of the largest classes ever - the last class with four inductees was sixty years earlier. The players elected were Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz on their first attempt, and Craig Biggio who made it in his third year on the ballot.

BBWAA Voting

Eligible members of the Baseball Writers Association of America voted on a ballot comprising holdover candidates from the 2014 Hall of Fame Election and players who played their last major league game in 2009. Four players were elected for the first time since the 1955 Hall of Fame Election. There were 549 ballots cast, with 412 votes (75%) needed for election.

Player	Votes	Percentage	Year on the Ballot	Result
Randy Johnson	534	97.3	1st	ELECTED
Pedro Martinez	500	91.1	1st	ELECTED
John Smoltz	455	82.9	1st	ELECTED
Craig Biggio	454	82.7	3rd	ELECTED
Mike Piazza	384	69.9	3rd
Jeff Bagwell	306	55.7	5th
Tim Raines	302	55.0	8th
Curt Schilling	215	39.2	3rd
Roger Clemens	206	37.5	3rd
Barry Bonds	202	36.8	3rd
Lee Smith	166	30.2	13th
Edgar Martinez	148	27.0	6th
Alan Trammell	138	25.1	14th
Mike Mussina	135	24.6	2nd
Jeff Kent	77	14.0	2nd
Fred McGriff	71	12.9	6th
Larry Walker	65	11.8	5th
Gary Sheffield	64	11.7	1st
Mark McGwire	55	10.0	9th
Don Mattingly	50	9.1	15th	Dropped
Sammy Sosa	36	6.6	3rd
Nomar Garciaparra	30	5.5	1st
Carlos Delgado	21	3.8	1st	Dropped
Troy Percival	4	0.7	1st	Dropped
Aaron Boone	2	0.4	1st	Dropped
Tom Gordon	2	0.4	1st	Dropped
Darin Erstad	1	0.2	1st	Dropped
Brian Giles	0	0.0	1st	Dropped
Jason Schmidt	0	0	1st	Dropped
Cliff Floyd	0	0	1st	Dropped
Jermaine Dye	0	0	1st	Dropped
Rich Aurilia	0	0	1st	Dropped
Tony Clark	0	0	1st	Dropped
Eddie Guardado	0	0	1st	Dropped

Veterans Committee

The Veterans Committee, consisting of 16 members, examined candidates from the "Golden Era", covering the period 1947-1972, selected by the Hall of Fame's Historical Overview Committee. Candidates were selected from a pool of managers, umpires, executives and long-retired players "whose most significant career impact was realized during the 1947-72 time period."

The ballot consisted of ten candidates, nine being considered as players and one, Bob Howsam, for his contributions as an executive. Candidates needed to be selected by 75% of committee members to be elected, or 12 of 16 ballots, but no candidate was able to clear that hurdle, as two of them, Dick Allen and Tony Oliva, came up one vote short, and another, Jim Kaat, missed by two votes. It is likely that the high quality of the candidates - with five getting 50% or more of the votes - contributed to spreading the vote and to the failure to elect anyone.

The committee was made up of 16 members: 8 Hall of Famers (Jim Bunning, Rod Carew, Pat Gillick, Fergie Jenkins, Al Kaline, Joe Morgan, Ozzie Smith and Don Sutton), 4 executives (Jim Frey, David Glass, Roland Hemond and Bob Watson), and 4 media members (Steve Hirdt, Dick Kaegel, Phil Pepe and Tracy Ringolsby).

Player	Votes	Percentage	Result
Dick Allen	11	68.8
Tony Oliva	11	68.8
Jim Kaat	10	62.5
Maury Wills	9	56.3
Minnie Minoso	8	50.0
Ken Boyer	<3	<18.8
Gil Hodges	<3	<18.8
Bob Howsam	<3	<18.8
Billy Pierce	<3	<18.8
Luis Tiant	<3	<18.8

Induction

The 2015 Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place on July 26th in Cooperstown, NY.

Other Awards

Dick Enberg, long-time voice of the California Angels and later of the San Diego Padres, and most famous for his nationally televised broadcasting work on NBC and CBS, was named the winner of the Ford C. Frick Award.

Detroit, MI sportswriter Tom Gage won the J.G. Taylor Spink Award.

Further Reading

• Barry M. Bloom: "Golden Era Committee has a tough task ahead", mlb.com, December 6, 2014. [1]
• Barry M. Bloom: "No one elected to Hall of Fame by Golden Era Committee: Oliva, Allen fall one vote shy; Kaat misses by two", mlb.com, December 8, 2014. [2]
• Barry M. Bloom: "Big Unit, Pedro, Smoltz, Biggio make Hall of Fame: Writers elect four players to Cooperstown for first time since 1955", mlb.com, January 6, 2015. [3]
• Bob Nightengale: "A fascinating result for the Hall of Fame", USA Today, January 6, 2015. [4]
• Bob Nightengale: "Pedro Martinez wows crowd as he, Smoltz, Biggio, Johnson enter Hall of Fame", USA Today Sports, July 26, 2015. [5]
• John Schlegel: "Big Unit, Pedro, Smoltz highlight 2015 Hall ballot: Dominant aces to be joined by slugger Sheffield as first-timers", mlb.com, November 27, 2014. [6]

Related Sites

• Article from mlb.com on the Veterans Committee ballot