2019 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

The BBWAA election rules remained identical to those that were in effect for the most recent elections. The most recent rules change, announced in 2015, tightened the qualifications for the BBWAA electorate. Beginning with the 2016 election, eligible voters must not only have 10 years of continuous BBWAA membership, but also be currently active members, or have held active status within the 10 years prior to the election. A BBWAA member who has not been active for more than 10 years can regain voting status by covering MLB in the year preceding the election.[6]

Edgar Martínez and Fred McGriff were on the ballot for their final time; McGriff dropped off the ballot, while Martínez was the sixth player to be elected in his final ballot, after Red Ruffing, Joe Medwick, Ralph Kiner, Jim Rice, and Tim Raines.

The ballot included two categories of players:

• Candidates from the 2018 ballot who received at least 5% of the vote but were not elected, as long as they first appeared on the BBWAA ballot no earlier than 2009.
• Selected individuals, chosen by a screening committee, whose last MLB appearance was in 2013.

319 votes were needed for election; a total of 425 ballots were cast, with 3404 votes for individual players, an average of 8.01 names per ballot.

Voting results from 2019:[1]

Voting results from 2019 Player Votes Percent Change Year Mariano Rivera 425 100% – 1st Roy Halladay 363 85.4% – 1st Edgar Martínez 363 85.4% 015.0% 10th Mike Mussina 326 76.7% 013.2% 6th Curt Schilling 259 60.9% 09.7% 7th Roger Clemens 253 59.5% 02.2% 7th Barry Bonds 251 59.1% 02.7% 7th Larry Walker 232 54.6% 020.5% 9th Omar Vizquel 182 42.8% 05.8% 2nd Fred McGriff 169 39.8% 016.6% 10th Manny Ramirez 97 22.8% 00.8% 3rd Jeff Kent 77 18.1% 03.6% 6th Scott Rolen 73 17.2% 07.0% 2nd Billy Wagner 71 16.7% 05.6% 4th Todd Helton 70 16.5% – 1st Gary Sheffield 58 13.6% 02.5% 5th Andy Pettitte 42 9.9% – 1st Sammy Sosa 36 8.5% 00.7% 7th Andruw Jones 32 7.5% 00.2% 2nd Michael Young* 9 2.1% – 1st Lance Berkman* 5 1.2% – 1st Miguel Tejada* 5 1.2% – 1st Roy Oswalt* 4 0.9% – 1st Plácido Polanco* 2 0.5% – 1st Rick Ankiel* 0 0% – 1st Jason Bay* 0 0% – 1st Freddy García* 0 0% – 1st Jon Garland* 0 0% – 1st Travis Hafner* 0 0% – 1st Ted Lilly* 0 0% – 1st Derek Lowe* 0 0% – 1st Darren Oliver* 0 0% – 1st Juan Pierre* 0 0% – 1st Vernon Wells* 0 0% – 1st Kevin Youkilis* 0 0% – 1st

Key      Elected to the Hall of Fame on this ballot (named in bold italics).      Elected subsequently, as of 2020 (named in plain italics).      Renominated for the 2020 BBWAA election by adequate performance on this ballot.      Eliminated from annual BBWAA consideration by poor performance or expiration on subsequent ballots.      Eliminated from annual BBWAA consideration by poor performance or expiration on this ballot. † First time on the BBWAA ballot. * Eliminated from annual BBWAA consideration by poor performance on this ballot (not expiration).

Players who were eligible for the first time in 2019 but were not on the ballot included Wilson Betemit, Henry Blanco, Tim Byrdak, Jamey Carroll, José Contreras, Jesse Crain, Ryan Dempster, Mark DeRosa, Matt Diaz, Octavio Dotel, Chad Durbin, Chad Gaudin, Édgar González, Mike Gonzalez, Jerry Hairston Jr., Ramón Hernández, Eric Hinske, Brandon Inge, César Izturis, Austin Kearns, Casey Kotchman, Mark Kotsay, Ryan Langerhans, Brandon Lyon, Corky Miller, Brett Myers, Laynce Nix, Ramón Ortiz, Cody Ransom, Jon Rauch, Chris Snyder, Yorvit Torrealba, Jake Westbrook, Ty Wigginton and DeWayne Wise.

Rivera's unanimous election was not the only significant historic milestone from the 2019 BBWAA voting results. Halladay, who died in a plane crash in November 2017, became the first player to have been elected posthumously on the first ballot in a regular BBWAA election since Christy Mathewson in the first BBWAA election of 1936. Roberto Clemente was voted in via a special BBWAA election in 1973, shortly after his death in a plane crash, and before he would have been eligible.[1]

On July 23, 2016, the Hall of Fame announced changes to the Era Committee system. The system's timeframes were restructured to place a greater emphasis on the modern game, and to reduce the frequency at which individuals from the pre-1970 game (including Negro league baseball figures) will have their careers reviewed.[3] Considering candidates whose greatest contributions occurred in 1988 and later, the Today's Game Era Committee met in 2018 as part of the elections for the next calendar year.

The Hall announced the 10 candidates for the Today's Game Era Committee ballot on November 5, 2018,[7] with the committee scheduled to meet and vote at the 2018 winter meetings. Voting results were announced immediately after the committee meeting adjourned on December 9.[4] The cutoff for election and induction remains the standard 75%, or 12 of 16 votes.

All candidates except Steinbrenner were living when the ballot and results were announced. Piniella, Baines, Belle, Clark, Hershiser, Johnson and Steinbrenner were on the previous ballot, but only Baines received the necessary votes for election to the Hall of Fame this year.

The committee consisted of the following individuals:[4]

• Hall of Famers: Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven, Pat Gillick, Tony La Russa, Greg Maddux, Joe Morgan, John Schuerholz, Ozzie Smith, Joe Torre
• Executives: Al Avila, Paul Beeston, Andy MacPhail, Jerry Reinsdorf
• Media and historians: Steve Hirdt, Tim Kurkjian, Claire Smith
• Non-voting committee chair: Jane Forbes Clark (Hall of Fame chairman)

The J. G. Taylor Spink Award has been presented by the BBWAA at the annual summer induction ceremonies since 1962.[8] Through 2010, it was awarded during the main induction ceremony, but is now given the previous day at the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation. It recognizes a sportswriter "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing".[9] The recipients are not members of the Hall of Fame but are featured in a permanent exhibit at the National Baseball Museum.

The three finalists for the 2019 award were announced on July 18, 2018 during the All-Star break:[10]

• Jayson Stark, The Athletic
• Jim Reeves, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
• Patrick Reusse, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Stark was announced as the recipient during the 2018 winter meetings on December 11.[11] Stark received 270 of the 463 ballots cast (including 2 blank ballots) to Reeves' 111 and Reusse's 80.

Various changes in July 2016 were also made to the annual Ford C. Frick Award elections, presented annually to a preeminent baseball broadcaster since 1978. According to the Hall, the new criteria for selection are "Commitment to excellence, quality of broadcasting abilities, reverence within the game, popularity with fans, and recognition by peers."

Additionally, a ballot of eight candidates is now set, down from 10 in years past. The three ballot slots previously determined by fan voting on Facebook are now filled by a committee of historians.

A new election cycle has been established, rotating annually between Current Major League Markets (team-specific announcers) with the 2017 Frick Award; National Voices (broadcasters whose contributions were realized on a national level) with the 2018 Frick Award; and Broadcasting Beginnings (early team voices and pioneers of baseball broadcasting) with the 2019 Frick Award. This cycle will repeat every three years.[3]

The Hall announced the following finalists for the 2019 Ford C. Frick Award on October 22, 2018.[12]

• Connie Desmond
• Pat Flanagan
• Jack Graney
• Harry Heilmann
• Al Helfer
• Waite Hoyt
• Rosey Rowswell
• Ty Tyson

All finalists had been deceased for at least 30 years when the ballot was announced, the most recently deceased being Hoyt in 1984. Two finalists, Heilmann and Hoyt, are members of the Hall of Fame as players.[12]

The Hall announced Al Helfer as the recipient on December 12, 2018. Helfer (1911–1975) called games for eight MLB teams in a career that spanned more than 30 years. He was most notable as forming one of MLB's first play-by-play teams in the 1930s alongside fellow Frick Award recipient Red Barber, and also as the lead announcer for the Mutual Broadcasting System's Game of the Day in the 1950s.[13]

• National Baseball Hall of Fame official website
• BBWAA rules for election to the Hall of Fame