Initial HOF ballot - 1936

[Appling]

Most of us are aware that a player must be retired for five years before he can be put on the HOF ballot. Except for special elections (like Roberto Clemente in 1973) this has been a requirement for over 50 years.

I was surprised to learn that in that initial year of HOF balloting, eleven MLB players got BBWAA votes while still active players. Here is a list of their names, along with their last year of active MLB service and the number of votes they received in 1936:
Mickey Cochrane (1937) - 80 votes
Dizzy Dean (1940) - 1 vote
Jimmie Foxx (1945) - 1 vote
Frankie Frisch (1937) - 14 votes
Charlie Gehringer (1942) - 1 vote
Lefty Grove (1941) - 12 votes
Gabby Hartnett (1941) - 1 vote
Rogers Hornsby (1937) - 105 votes
Al Simmons (1944) - 4 votes
Bill Terry (1936) - 9 votes
Pie Traynor (1937) - 16 votes

In that BBWAA election, 170 votes were needed for election - so (fortunately?) no player was elected to the Hall of Fame while still an active player. Only Cochrane and Hornsby got close to half the votes needed for election, so there must have been some "general understanding" that the active playing days of a player should be over before he enters the Hall of Fame.

Is just coincidental that all eleven players listed above were eventually voted by the BBWAA into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

There must be other "surprising" things about the first one or two HOF elections. Anything you might share with the rest of us?

[Freakshow]

There were two HOF elections in 1936. From Wikipedia, re the 1936 19th century player balloting:

The Veterans vote
A total of 78 ballots were cast by players, writers, managers and officials who had first-hand familiarity with 19th century baseball, resulting in 371 individual votes for 57 specific candidates; 59 votes were required for election. No candidates were elected, possibly because of a great deal of confusion regarding the voting procedure. The ballots which were issued in this vote also featured a list of suggested candidates, which was amended after complaints that Ed Delahanty, Willie Keeler and Cy Young should be on this ballot as well as that for the 20th century; but when some voters expressed doubts regarding the possibility of write-in votes, a letter including clearer instructions specifically allowing for write-ins had to be mailed. Many voters were also under the impression that they were to select an "All-Star team" of 10 players, with one at each position; 58 ballots cast in this manner were sent back to the voters to be re-cast, although 10 voters returned the ballots unaltered, stating that was the way they wished to vote regardless of the instructions. The results were delayed for several days until early February while these reminders and revisions took place.

It was further decided, during the tabulations and after the voting, that voters would each be restricted to 5 total votes in order to limit the initial 19th century selections to 5 players; but since most voters had cast votes for 10, it was ruled that each vote would only count as 1/2 in the total for that candidate - making a 75% tally nearly mathematically impossible. When the votes were tabulated with this method, only two candidates had totals reaching even 50% of the required number. Plans for a runoff election featuring only the top 12 finishers, to be held prior to the 1939 opening of the Hall, never materialized; even with all the problems, the 1936 vote would remain the Hall's most successful attempt to seek a wide vote from experts on the era regarding candidates from that period.

Candidates who were listed as suggestions on the ballot are indicated here with a †. Candidates who have since been selected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics, as is Honus Wagner, who was elected in the BBWAA vote:

†Cap Anson - 391/2
†Buck Ewing - 391/2
†Willie Keeler - 33
†Cy Young - 321/2
†Ed Delahanty - 211/2
†John McGraw - 17
†Charles Radbourn - 16
†Herman Long - 151/2
†Mike "King" Kelly - 15
†Amos Rusie - 111/2
†Hughie Jennings - 11
†Fred Clarke - 9
Jimmy Collins - 8
†Charles Comiskey - 6
†Jerry Denny - 6
Bill Lange - 6
†Wilbert Robinson - 6
Harry Stovey - 6
†George Wright - 6
†John Clarkson - 5
Honus Wagner - 5
†Albert Spalding - 4
†Hugh Duffy - 31/2
†Ross Barnes - 3
†Charlie Bennett - 3
Kid Nichols - 3
†Monte Ward - 3
†Fred Dunlap - 21/2
Dan Brouthers - 2
Jack Glasscock - 2
Billy Hamilton - 2
Nap Lajoie - 2
Ned Williamson - 2
Bobby Lowe - 11/2
Doug Allison - 1
Joe Battin - 1
Jake Beckley - 1
Tommy Bond - 1
†Jesse Burkett - 1
Lou Criger - 1
Bill Dahlen - 1
Jake Daubert - 1
Jack Doyle - 1
Tim Keefe - 1
†Matt Kilroy - 1
Arlie Latham - 1
Jimmy McAleer - 1
Tommy McCarthy - 1
Cal McVey - 1
Charlie Pabor - 1
Lip Pike - 1
Jack Remsen - 1
Hardy Richardson - 1
Fred Tenney - 1
George Van Haltren - 1
†Bobby Wallace - 1
Deacon White - 1
†Candy Cummings - 0
†Silver Flint - 0
†Lee Richmond - 0

[Appling]

There were two HOF elections in 1936. From Wikipedia, re the 1936 19th century player balloting:

The Veterans vote
A total of 78 ballots were cast by players, writers, managers and officials who had first-hand familiarity with 19th century baseball, resulting in 371 individual votes for 57 specific candidates; 59 votes were required for election. No candidates were elected, possibly because of a great deal of confusion regarding the voting procedure.
Very interesting and amusing story about the Old Timers election. Thanks for sharing!

[TonyK]

"A total of 78 ballots were cast by players, writers, managers and officials who had first-hand familiarity with 19th century baseball, resulting in 371 individual votes for 57 specific candidates; 59 votes were required for election. It was further decided, during the tabulations and after the voting, that voters would each be restricted to 5 total votes in order to limit the initial 19th century selections to 5 players; but since most voters had cast votes for 10, it was ruled that each vote would only count as 1/2 in the total for that candidate."

I'm confused by the numbers Wikipedia is giving us. If there were only 78 ballots with each vote counting 1/2 a vote, than how is it possible to receive higher than 39 votes? Yet two players each received 39 1/2 votes.

Twenty three players all had 1 vote. Does that mean two voters each gave them a 1/2 a vote? If so, why aren't there any players with only 1/2 a vote? Something tells me there is more to the story.

Herman Long received 15 1/2 votes making him the leading vote getter among non-HOF players. Either he was overrated back in 1936, or he deserves to be elected?

I'd like to know their reasoning why only five 19th Century players deserved election and ten 20th Century players.

[Appling]

It was further decided, during the tabulations and after the voting, that voters would each be restricted to 5 total votes in order to limit the initial 19th century selections to 5 players; but since most voters had cast votes for 10, it was ruled that each vote would only count as 1/2 in the total for that candidate."

I'm confused by the numbers Wikipedia is giving us. If there were only 78 ballots with each vote counting 1/2 a vote, than how is it possible to receive higher than 39 votes? Yet two players each received 39 1/2 votes.


I was assumng that votes counted for just 1/2 only on ballots with ten names. If a voter listed just five names, I assume they each got a full vote.
Nothing else made sense to me -- otherwise you could be named on all 78 ballots and still not have enough votes to be elected. That would be crazy!
-- But I have been wrong before.