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 a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...

for 1974 followed the system in place since 1971. The

Baseball Writers' Association of America The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines, and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908 and is known fo ...

(BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected two,

Whitey Ford Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (October 21, 1928 – October 8, 2020), nicknamed "the Chairman of the Board", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played his entire 16-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees. ...

and

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Mick" and "the Commerce Comet", was an American professional baseball player who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

. The

Veterans Committee The Veterans Committee is the popular name of various committees of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum that elect participants other than recently retired players. Originally, it referenced the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee ...

met in closed sessions to consider executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players. It selected three people:

Jim Bottomley James Leroy Bottomley (April 23, 1900 – December 11, 1959) was an American professional baseball first baseman, Scout (sport), scout and Manager (baseball), manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman from 1922 to 19 ...

, Jocko Conlan, and Sam Thompson. The Negro Leagues Committee also met in person and selected Cool Papa Bell. A formal induction ceremony was held in

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and the 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 ...

, on August 12, 1974, with

Commissioner of Baseball The commissioner of baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as " organized baseball". Under the direction of the commiss ...

Bowie Kuhn presiding.

BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1954 or later, but not after 1968; the ballot included candidates from the 1973 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 1968. 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 1974 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 16. The ballot consisted of 42 players; a total of 365 ballots were cast, with 274 votes required for election. A total of 3,000 individual votes were cast, an average of 8.22 per ballot. Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with dagger (†). The two candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and were elected are indicated in ''bold italics''; candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in ''italics''. Allie Reynolds was on the ballot for the final time. The newly-eligible players included 9 All-Stars, 4 of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 75 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 20-time All-Star Mickey Mantle, 12-time All-Stars Elston Howard and Eddie Mathews, 9-time All-Star Rocky Colavito, and 7-time All-Star Roger Maris. Players eligible for the first time who were ''not'' included on the ballot were: John Buzhardt, Wayne Causey, Lenny Green, Larry Jackson, Stu Miller, Bill Monbouquette, Russ Nixon, Larry Sherry, Norm Siebern, Bobby Tiefenauer and John Tsitouris.

J. G. Taylor Spink Award

Warren Brown (1894–1978), John Drebinger (1891–1979) and John Kieran (1892–1981) received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring baseball writers. The awards were voted at the December 1973 meeting of the BBWAA, and included in the summer 1974 ceremonies.

References

External links

1974 Election
at www.baseballhalloffame.org {{Baseball Hall of Fame Baseball Hall of Fame balloting Hall of Fame balloting