Elections to the
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
for 1982 followed the system in place since 1978.
The
Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected two,
Hank Aaron and
Frank Robinson. 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 the second
Commissioner of Baseball,
Happy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Sr. (July 14, 1898 – June 15, 1991) was an American politician from Kentucky. He represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also se ...
, and former
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
shortstop
Travis Jackson. A formal induction ceremony was held in
Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...
, on August 1, 1982, with the current Commissioner of Baseball,
Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kent Kuhn (; October 28, 1926 – March 15, 2007) was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, 1969, to September 30, 1984. He served as legal counsel for Ma ...
, presiding.
BBWAA election
The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1962 or later, but not after 1976; the ballot included candidates from the 1981 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 1976. 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 42 players; a total of 415 ballots were cast, with 312 votes required for election. A total of 3,344 individual votes were cast, an average of 8.06 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 dagger (†). The two candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and were elected is indicated in ''bold italics''; candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in ''italics''. The 18 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk (*).
The newly-eligible players included 17 All-Stars, two of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 74 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 21-time All-Star Hank Aaron, 12-time All-Star Frank Robinson, 11-time All-Star Bill Freehan, 9-time All-Star Tony Oliva and 6-time All-Star Billy Williams. The field included two MVPs (Aaron and Frank Robinson, who won one in each league), and three Rookies of the Year (Oliva, Robinson and Williams).
Players eligible for the first time who were ''not'' included on the ballot were:
Dick Bosman,
Buddy Bradford,
Nate Colbert
Nathan Colbert Jr. (April 9, 1946 – January 5, 2023) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman from 1966 to 1976, most prominently as a member of the newly formed San Diego Padre ...
,
Dave Duncan,
Alan Foster,
Danny Frisella
Daniel Vincent Frisella (March 4, 1946 – January 1, 1977) was a Major League Baseball pitcher whose career was cut short when he was killed in a dune buggy accident on New Year's Day
Early years
Born in San Francisco, California, Frisella w ...
,
Ted Kubiak
Theodore Rodger Kubiak (born May 12, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He played as an infielder in Major League Baseball from through , most notably as a member of the Oakland Athletics dynasty that won thr ...
,
Bob Moose,
Blue Moon Odom
Johnny Lee "Blue Moon" Odom (born May 29, 1945) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from through , most notably as a member of the Oakland Athletics dynasty that won thr ...
,
Fritz Peterson, and
Ken Sanders.
J. G. Taylor Spink Award
Allen Lewis (1916–2003) and
Bob Addie (1910–1982) received the
J. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring baseball writers.
The awards were voted at the December 1981 meeting of the BBWAA, and included in the summer 1982 ceremonies.
References
External links
1982 Electionat www.baseballhalloffame.org
{{Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
Hall of Fame balloting