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 National Baseball | |
|---|---|
| Hall of Fame and Museum | |
| New inductees | 6 |
| viaBBWAA | 2 |
| via Veterans Committee | 3 |
| via Negro Leagues Committee | 1 |
| Total inductees | 157 |
| Induction date | August 9, 1976 |
Elections to theBaseball Hall of Fame for 1976 followed the system in place since 1971. TheBaseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected two,Bob Lemon andRobin Roberts. TheVeterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players. It selected three players:Roger Connor,Cal Hubbard, andFreddie Lindstrom. TheNegro Leagues Committee also met in person and selectedOscar Charleston. A formal induction ceremony was held inCooperstown, New York, on August 9, 1976, withCommissioner of BaseballBowie Kuhn presiding.[1]
The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1956 or later, but not after 1970; the ballot included candidates from the 1975 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 1970. 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. The ballot consisted of 32 players; a total of 388 ballots were cast, with 291 votes required for election. A total of 2,937 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.57 per ballot.
Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a dagger (†). The two candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated inbold italics; candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated initalics.
Phil Rizzuto was on the ballot for the final time.
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The newly-eligible players included 9 All-Stars, 7 of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 28 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 8-time All-Star Del Crandall and 6-time All-Star John Roseboro. The field included one Rookie of the Year (Bob Allison).
Players eligible for the first time who werenot included on the ballot were:Jerry Adair,Hank Aguirre,Bob Allison,Gerry Arrigo,Don Cardwell,Jim Davenport,Tito Francona,Gary Geiger,Bob Johnson,Ken Johnson,Lou Klimchock,Ron Kline,Al McBean,Pedro Ramos,Rich Rollins,John Roseboro,Tom Satriano,Russ Snyder,Lee Stange,Hawk Taylor,Ray Washburn andEarl Wilson.
Tom Meany (1903–1964) andShirley Povich (1905–1998) received theJ. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring baseball writers.[2][3] The awards were voted at the December 1975 meeting of the BBWAA, and included in the summer 1976 ceremonies.
