1958 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

1958 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

New inductees	0
Total inductees	83
←  1957 1959  →

Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1958 followed a system established after the 1956 election. The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players; they elected no one. ^[1] The BBWAA was voting only in even-number years, with the Veterans Committee meeting only in odd-numbered years to consider older major league players as well as managers, umpires, and executives. For the first time since 1950, the induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York, were canceled because there was no one to induct, the second such occurrence in Hall of Fame history.

BBWAA election

Several elements of the current procedure were put into effect. There was a printed list of eligible candidates, all of whom had played in at least ten major league seasons. Only 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to vote, and they were instructed to vote for up to ten candidates rather than ten. ^[2] The latter revision resulted from complaints by many writers in 1956 that there were no longer many viable candidates, a situation which had been caused partly by changes governing candidate eligibility.

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1928 or later but not after 1952, a 25-year span of major league finales. (In a change, they were permitted to be active in non-playing roles.) The Hall of Fame would induct any candidate who received at least 75% support, as always, which was 200 votes on 266 ballots returned. A total of 2,400 individual votes were cast, an average of 9.02 per ballot.

There were about 400 players on the new ballot and about 154 received at least one vote. ^[3] A dagger (†) marks candidates who last played in 1951 or 1952. Under the new rules they would have been on the ballot for the first time, alone among the candidates who received votes, but this was the first ballot with a list of players. Candidates who have been inducted subsequently are named in italics.

With many strong candidates but none who particularly stood out, many players received support but none were elected; while 27 players received between 10% and 40%, only two received more than 40%. Max Carey's 51.1% remains the lowest percentage for a top vote getter in a BBWAA election.

Player Votes Percent Change Max Carey 136 51.1 0 17.4% Edd Roush 112 42.1 0 5.1% Red Ruffing 99 37.2 0 13.1% Hack Wilson 94 35.3 0 3.0% Kiki Cuyler 90 33.8 0 5.3% Sam Rice 90 33.8 0 10.5% Tony Lazzeri 80 30.1 0 3.1% Luke Appling 77 28.9 0 21.6% Lefty Gomez 76 28.6 0 17.5% Burleigh Grimes 71 26.7 0 13.7% Red Faber 68 25.6 0 8.0% † Lou Boudreau 64 24.1 - Jim Bottomley 57 21.4 0 0.4% Joe Medwick 50 18.8 0 2.7% Pepper Martin 46 17.3 0 13.7% Hank Gowdy 45 16.9 0 8.5% Bucky Harris 45 16.9 - Dave Bancroft 43 16.2 0 8.4% Lloyd Waner 39 14.7 0 5.4% Waite Hoyt 37 13.9 0 5.3% Chuck Klein 36 13.5 0 9.3% †Johnny Vander Meer [lower-alpha 1] 35 13.2 0 11.6% Earle Combs 34 12.8 0 5.5% Stan Coveleski 34 12.8 - Al López 34 12.8 0 12.3% Bucky Walters 33 12.4 0 9.8% Eppa Rixey 32 12.0 0 2.0% Leo Durocher 28 10.5 0 10.0% Lefty O'Doul 27 10.2 0 7.6% Jimmy Dykes 26 9.8 0 9.3% Goose Goslin 26 9.8 0 3.7% Charlie Grimm 26 9.8 - † Bobby Doerr 25 9.4 - Jesse Haines 22 8.3 0 1.0% Heinie Manush 22 8.3 0 1.6% Nick Altrock 20 7.5 0 7.0% Billy Southworth 18 6.8 - Freddie Fitzsimmons 16 6.0 0 4.4% Paul Derringer 15 5.6 0 0.6% Dolf Luque 15 5.6 0 5.1% Earl Averill 14 5.3 0 3.7% Babe Herman 13 4.9 0 0.8% Art Nehf 13 4.9 - Red Rolfe 13 4.9 0 3.3% Chick Hafey 12 4.5 0 3.8% Terry Moore 12 4.5 - Schoolboy Rowe 12 4.5 - Tommy Bridges 11 4.1 0 2.5% Joe Gordon 11 4.1 0 2.0% Tommy Henrich 11 4.1 0 3.1% Travis Jackson 11 4.1 0 3.2% Steve O'Neill 10 3.8 - Muddy Ruel 10 3.8 0 4.5% Rick Ferrell 9 3.4 0 2.9% Joe Judge 9 3.4 0 2.4% †Charlie Keller 9 3.4 - Jack Quinn 9 3.4 0 2.9% Wally Schang 8 3.0 0 2.5% †Birdie Tebbetts 8 3.0 - Glenn Wright 8 3.0 0 1.4% Howard Ehmke 7 2.6 0 1.5% Billy Herman 7 2.6 0 1.6% Eddie Rommel 7 2.6 - Stan Hack 6 2.3 0 1.8% Mel Harder 6 2.3 - Pinky Higgins 6 2.3 - Carl Mays 6 2.3 - †Pete Reiser 6 2.3 - Charlie Root 6 2.3 - Arky Vaughan 6 2.3 0 2.4% Cy Williams 6 2.3 0 3.4% †Bullet Joe Bush 5 1.9 - Frankie Crosetti 5 1.9 0 1.4% Joe Dugan 5 1.9 0 1.4% Orval Grove 5 1.9 - Fielder Jones 5 1.9 - Freddie Lindstrom 5 1.9 0 0.3% Firpo Marberry 5 1.9 - Bob Meusel 5 1.9 0 1.4% Moe Berg 4 1.5 - Max Bishop 4 1.5 0 1.0% Dolph Camilli 4 1.5 0 1.0% Cookie Lavagetto 4 1.5 - Ernie Lombardi 4 1.5 0 2.6% Urban Shocker 4 1.5 - George Uhle 4 1.5 0 1.0% Charlie Berry 3 1.1 - Mort Cooper 3 1.1 0 0.1% Tony Cuccinello 3 1.1 0 0.6% Bill Doak 3 1.1 - Lew Fonseca 3 1.1 0 0.1% Mike González 3 1.1 - Frankie Gustine 3 1.1 - Willie Kamm 3 1.1 - Bob O'Farrell 3 1.1 - Luke Sewell 3 1.1 - Billy Werber 3 1.1 - Jimmie Wilson 3 1.1 0 7.7% Wally Berger 2 0.8 0 0.3% Ossie Bluege 2 0.8 0 0.2% Doc Cramer 2 0.8 0 1.3% †Tommy Holmes 2 0.8 - George Kelly 2 0.8 0 0.2% Ray Kremer 2 0.8 - Freddy Leach 2 0.8 - Joe McCarthy [lower-alpha 2] 2 0.8 - Marty McManus 2 0.8 - Lee Meadows 2 0.8 - Van Mungo 2 0.8 - Cy Perkins 2 0.8 - Bill Sherdel 2 0.8 0 0.3% Lon Warneke 2 0.8 - Earl Whitehill 2 0.8 0 0.3% Sparky Adams 1 0.4 - Jimmy Austin 1 0.4 - Dick Bartell 1 0.4 - Larry Benton 1 0.4 - Ray Blades 1 0.4 - George Case 1 0.4 - †Sam Chapman 1 0.4 - Alvin Crowder 1 0.4 - Harry Danning 1 0.4 - Curt Davis 1 0.4 - Jumbo Elliott 1 0.4 - Rick Ferrell 1 0.4 0 0.1% George Grantham 1 0.4 - Mule Haas 1 0.4 0 0.1% Bill Hallahan 1 0.4 0 0.1% Bubbles Hargrave 1 0.4 - Billy Jurges 1 0.4 - Ken Keltner 1 0.4 - Red Kress 1 0.4 - Red Lucas 1 0.4 - Gus Mancuso 1 0.4 - Bing Miller 1 0.4 - †Wally Moses 1 0.4 - Johnny Mostil 1 0.4 0 0.1% Charley O'Leary 1 0.4 - Monte Pearson 1 0.4 - Wally Pipp 1 0.4 - Hal Schumacher 1 0.4 0 0.6% Jack Scott 1 0.4 - Joe Sewell 1 0.4 0 1.2% Rip Sewell 1 0.4 - Warren Spahn [lower-alpha 3] 1 0.4 - Riggs Stephenson 1 0.4 0 0.6% Gus Suhr 1 0.4 0 0.1% Clyde Sukeforth 1 0.4 - Rube Walberg 1 0.4 - †Harry Walker 1 0.4 - Ken Williams 1 0.4 0 0.1% Whit Wyatt 1 0.4 - Pep Young 1 0.4 - Tom Zachary 1 0.4 -

Players who were elected in future elections. These individuals are also indicated in plain italics.

Notes

1. While Vander Meer was eligible for the first time in this election, he had received votes in 1945 (while inactive due to military service) and 1956.
2. McCarthy received two votes, despite having been inducted to the Hall of Fame the previous summer; also, he was ineligible to be elected as a player, having never appeared in a major league game.
3. Spahn received a vote despite still being an active player.

References

1. "Voting Fails to Enlarge Hall of Fame". Chicago Tribune . AP. February 5, 1958. p. 4-1. Retrieved October 23, 2019– via newspapers.com.
2. Ken Smith, Baseball's Hall of Fame, Ninth edition, 1979, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 67.
3. "1958 Hall of Fame Voting | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.

External links

• 1958 Hall of Fame Voting, Baseball Reference. Confirmed 2010-09-12.
• BBWAA Results by Year: 1958, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Confirmed 2010-09-12. — The list is truncated at George Case, the sixth of 41 candidates who received one vote.
• Bill Deane, "Award and Honors: Hall of Fame Elections: History", in every edition of Total Baseball edited by John Thorn and Pete Palmer. Third edition, 1993, New York: HarperCollins, pages 297–309.