Athletes - Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 2006

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	Athletes - Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 2006

The 2006 elections to select inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame proceeded in keeping with rules enacted in 2001, augmented by a special election; the result was the largest class of inductees (18) in the Hall's history, including the first woman ever elected. The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) held an election to select from among recent players. The Veterans Committee did not hold an election; the 2001 rules changes provided that elections for players retired over 20 years would be held every other year, with elections of non-players (managers, umpires and executives) held every fourth year. The Committee voted in 2005 on players who were active no later than 1983; there was no 2005 election for non-players. Elections in both categories will be held in 2007.

On July 26, 2005, the Hall announced that its Board of Directors had approved a special election to be held in 2006, by the Committee on African-American Baseball, of Negro leagues and pre-Negro leagues candidates.

The induction ceremonies will be held on July 30 in Cooperstown, with Commissioner Bud Selig presiding.

The BBWAA election

The BBWAA was again authorized to elect players active in 1986 or later, but not after 2000; the ballot, announced on November 28, 2005, included candidates from the 2005 ballot who received at least 5% of the vote but were not elected, along with selected players, chosen by a screening committee, whose last appearance was in 2000. All 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to vote.

Voters were instructed to cast votes for up to 10 candidates; any candidate receiving votes on at least 75% of the ballots would be honored with induction to the Hall. Results of the 2006 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 10. The ballot consisted of 29 players; 520 ballots were cast, with 390 votes required for election. A total of 2933 individual votes were cast, an average of 5.64 per ballot. Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote will not appear on future BBWAA ballots, but may eventually be considered by the Veterans Committee.

Pete Rose, who last played in 1986, was again not included on the ballot due to his banishment from baseball in what was theoretically his final opportunity, as players retired over 20 years can not be considered by the BBWAA under current rules; however, Hall of Fame chair Jane Forbes Clark indicated prior to the ballot announcement that if Rose is ever reinstated by Major League Baseball, the Hall's board of directors might review the rules in light of the fact that Rose never had an opportunity to appear on a BBWAA ballot.

Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a †. The candidate who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated in bold italics. The 13 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with a *.

Among the players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot are: Tim Belcher, Stan Belinda, Lance Johnson, Roberto Kelly, Mickey Morandini, Luis Polonia, Jeff Reed, Heathcliff Slocumb, and Mike Stanley.

The Committee on African-American Baseball election

In July 2000, the Hall was given a $250,000 grant from Major League Baseball to begin a comprehensive study on African Americans in baseball from 1860-1960, with the hope of enhancing the Hall's collections in these areas. In February 2001, the Hall selected three historians – Dr. Larry Hogan, Dick Clark and Larry Lester – to conduct the study, which involved over 50 other researchers and authors. The resulting study was a narrative, bibliography, and statistical database, including 3,000 day-by-day records, league leaders and all-time leaders, collected from box scores in 128 newspapers of sanctioned Negro League games played from 1920-1954. The box scores reflect almost 100% of games of the 1920s, over 90% of the games played in the 1930s, and 50-70% of games in the 1940s and '50s. In February 2006, National Geographic published a book featuring material from the study, in conjunction with the Hall, called Shades of Glory; it covers not only the development of the game, but also its impact within the African American community. Pride and Passion, an exhibit focusing on the history of African American baseball, will debut at the Hall's museum in April 2006.

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