Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1978

Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1978 introduced a new system that would continue to 1994. The special committee on Negro Leagues had disbanded after its 1977 meeting. Two of its members were appointed to the Veterans Committee, as part of expanding that body from twelve to eighteen members, and its responsibilities were extended to cover the Negro Leagues. Where the special committee had elected nine people in seven years from 1971, the expanded Veterans Committee would elect two in seventeen years up to 1994, before the next reform.

The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected Eddie Mathews. The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider older major league players as well as managers, umpires, executives, and figures from the Negro Leagues. It selected Addie Joss and Larry MacPhail.

BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1958 or later, but not after 1972; the ballot included candidates from the 1977 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 1972. 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 36 players; a total of 379 ballots were cast, with 285 votes required for election. A total of 2,779 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.33 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.

Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a †. The one candidate who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics.

Key to colors
	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.
	Players not yet elected who returned on the 1979 ballot.
	Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration.

Player	Votes	Percent
Eddie Mathews	301	79.4
Enos Slaughter	261	68.9
Duke Snider	254	67.0
Gil Hodges	226	59.6
Don Drysdale	219	57.8
Jim Bunning	181	47.8
Richie Ashburn	158	41.7
†Hoyt Wilhelm	158	41.7
Nellie Fox	149	39.3
Red Schoendienst	130	34.3
†Maury Wills	115	30.3
Roger Maris	83	21.9
Lew Burdette	76	20.1
Mickey Vernon	66	17.4
Alvin Dark	60	15.8
Harvey Kuenn	58	15.3
Ted Kluszewski	51	13.5
Don Newcombe	48	12.7
Elston Howard	41	10.8
Don Larsen	32	8.4
Roy Face	27	7.1
†Bill Mazeroski	23	6.1
Ken Boyer	18	4.7
Curt Flood	8	2.1
Harvey Haddix	7	1.8
Del Crandall	6	1.6
Vern Law	6	1.6
Bobby Thomson	5	1.3
Vic Wertz	4	1.1
Dick Groat	3	0.8
†Jim Maloney	2	0.5
†Clete Boyer	1	0.3
†Denny McLain	1	0.3
†Camilo Pascual	1	0.3
†Mudcat Grant	0	0.0
†Pedro Ramos	0	0.0

Roberto Clemente, who died during the 1972 season, was included on the 1973 ballot under a standard provision for players who die before the five-year waiting period has elapsed.

The newly-eligible players included 18 All-Stars, 11 of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 39 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 7-time All-Star Bill Mazeroski and 5-time All-Stars Hoyt Wilhelm and Maury Wlls. The field included two MVPs (Wills and Denny McLain), one Cy Young Award winner (Denny McLain, who received the MVP the same year as one of his two Cy Young Awards; that same season, he was the last pitcher to win thirty games in a season) and two Rookies of the Year (Ron Hansen and Gary Peters). Bill Mazeroski also had eight Gold Gloves at Second Base, the record at the time.

Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Ted Abernathy, Joe Azcue, John Bateman, Wade Blasingame, Don Buford, Donn Clendenon, Tony Cloninger, Moe Drabowsky, Joe Gibbon, Tom Haller, Steve Hamilton, Ron Hansen, Joe Horlen, Julian Javier, Denny Lemaster, J. C. Martin, Don Mincher, Gary Peters, Phil Regan, Jim Roland, Ron Taylor, Stan Williams, and Bobby Wine.

External links

1978 Election at www.baseballhalloffame.org

Balloting for the National Baseball Hall of Fame

1930s–1940s	1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

1950s–1960s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

1970s–1980s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s–2000s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

List of members of the Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee Baseball Writers' Association of America

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