Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1953
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1953 followed a radically new procedure. The institution appointed its Committee on Baseball Veterans, the famous "Veterans Committee", to meet in person and consider pioneers and executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players. Committees in the 1930s and 1940s had chosen several pioneers and executives, but this was the first direction of anyone's attention to field personnel other than players, the managers and umpires.
The first Veterans Committee met in closed sessions and elected six people: Ed Barrow, Chief Bender, Tommy Connolly, Bill Klem, Bobby Wallace, and Harry Wright.
The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent players (no change) and elected two, Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons.
BBWAA election
The 10-year members of the BBWAA had the authority to select any players active in 1928 or later, provided they had not been active in 1952. Voters were instructed to cast votes for 10 candidates; any candidate receiving votes on at least 75% of the ballots would be honored with induction to the Hall. A total of 264 ballots were cast in the Baseball Writers Election, with 2,525 individual votes for 83 specific candidates, an average of 9.56 per ballot; 198 votes were required for election. The two candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and were elected are indicated in bold italics; those candidates who were selected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. The rules at the time indicated that players were eligible if they had been out of baseball for at least one season, so this was Joe DiMaggio's first season of eligibility (he had retired after the 1951 season).
Elected to the Hall. These individuals are also indicated in bold italics. | |
Players who were elected in future elections. These individuals are also indicated in plain italics. |
Player | Votes | Percent | Change |
---|---|---|---|
Dizzy Dean | 209 | 79.2 | |
Al Simmons | 199 | 75.4 | |
Bill Terry | 191 | 72.3 | |
Bill Dickey | 179 | 67.8 | |
Rabbit Maranville | 164 | 62.1 | |
Dazzy Vance | 150 | 56.8 | |
Ted Lyons | 139 | 52.7 | |
Joe DiMaggio | 117 | 44.3 | - |
Chief Bender | 104 | 34.9 | |
Gabby Hartnett | 104 | 34.9 | |
Hank Greenberg | 80 | 30.3 | |
Joe Cronin | 69 | 26.1 | |
Casey Stengel | 61 | 23.1 | |
Hank Gowdy | 58 | 22.0 | |
Max Carey | 55 | 20.8 | |
Ray Schalk | 52 | 19.7 | |
Pepper Martin | 43 | 16.3 | |
Hack Wilson | 43 | 16.3 | |
Lefty Gomez | 35 | 13.3 | |
Edd Roush | 32 | 12.1 | |
Zack Wheat | 32 | 12.1 | |
Ross Youngs | 31 | 11.7 | |
Tony Lazzeri | 28 | 10.6 | |
Red Ruffing | 24 | 9.1 | |
Bucky Harris | 21 | 8.0 | |
Duffy Lewis | 20 | 7.6 | |
Rube Marquard | 19 | 7.2 | |
Kiki Cuyler | 18 | 6.8 | |
Babe Adams | 17 | 6.4 | |
Waite Hoyt | 14 | 5.3 | |
Dickey Kerr | 13 | 4.9 | |
Steve O'Neill | 13 | 4.9 | |
Lefty O'Doul | 11 | 4.2 | |
Dave Bancroft | 10 | 3.8 | |
Jim Bottomley | 10 | 3.8 | |
Tommy Henrich | 10 | 3.8 | |
Bucky Walters | 10 | 3.8 | |
Jimmie Wilson | 10 | 3.8 | |
Wilbur Cooper | 9 | 3.4 | |
Red Faber | 9 | 3.4 | |
Burleigh Grimes | 9 | 3.4 | |
Charlie Grimm | 9 | 3.4 | |
Mel Harder | 8 | 3.0 | |
Muddy Ruel | 8 | 3.0 | |
Jimmy Dykes | 5 | 1.9 | |
Red Rolfe | 5 | 1.9 | |
Everett Scott | 5 | 1.9 | |
Jesse Haines | 4 | 1.5 | - |
Art Nehf | 4 | 1.5 | |
Cy Williams | 4 | 1.5 | |
Earle Combs | 3 | 1.1 | |
Howard Ehmke | 3 | 1.1 | |
Sam Rice | 3 | 1.1 | |
Eppa Rixey | 3 | 1.1 | |
Glenn Wright | 3 | 1.1 | |
Luke Appling | 2 | 0.8 | - |
Bobby Doerr | 2 | 0.8 | - |
Chick Hafey | 2 | 0.8 | |
Babe Herman | 2 | 0.8 | |
Travis Jackson | 2 | 0.8 | |
Al López | 2 | 0.8 | |
Roger Peckinpaugh | 2 | 0.8 | |
Billy Southworth | 2 | 0.8 | |
Nick Altrock | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Donie Bush | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Mike González | 1 | 0.4 | |
Charlie Keller | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Johnny Kling | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Bill Lange | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Dolf Luque | 1 | 0.4 | |
Joe McCarthy | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Clyde Milan | 1 | 0.4 | |
Terry Moore | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Charley O'Leary | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Hub Pruett | 1 | 0.4 | |
Dave Robertson | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Eddie Rommel | 1 | 0.4 | |
Germany Schaefer | 1 | 0.4 | - |
George Selkirk | 1 | 0.4 | |
Bill Sherdel | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Gabby Street | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Arky Vaughan | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Bill Wambsganss | 1 | 0.4 | - |
Sources
- 1953 Election at www.baseballhalloffame.org