1997 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

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Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1997 followed the system in use since 1995. The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected Phil Niekro. The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions and selected three people from multiple classified ballots: Nellie Fox, Tommy Lasorda, and Willie Wells. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on August 3, 1997.^[1]

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1977 or later, but not after 1991; the ballot included candidates from the 1996 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 1991. 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 30 players; 473 ballots were cast, with 353 votes required for election. A total of 2,515 individual votes were cast, an average of 5.32 per ballot—breaking the record low of 5.72 votes per ballot set the previous election (the election of 2012 would break 1997's record, with an average of 5.1 names per ballot). Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote (24 votes) 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 one candidate who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been selected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. The ten candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk (*).

Dick Allen and Joe Torre were on the ballot for the 15th and final time.^[2]

Player Votes Percent Change Year Phil Niekro 380 80.3 0 12.0% 5th Don Sutton 346 73.2 0 9.4% 4th Tony Pérez 312 66.0 0 0.3% 6th Ron Santo 186 39.3 0 2.3% 14th Jim Rice 178 37.6 0 2.3% 3rd Steve Garvey 167 35.3 0 1.9% 5th Bruce Sutter 130 27.5 0 1.6% 4th Jim Kaat 107 22.6 0 3.2% 9th Joe Torre 105 22.2 0 11.6% 15th Tommy John 97 20.5 0 1.2% 3rd Minnie Miñoso 84 17.8 0 4.6% 13th †Dave Parker 83 17.5 - 1st Dick Allen 79 16.7 0 2.2% 15th Dave Concepción 60 12.7 0 0.7% 4th Luis Tiant 53 11.2 0 2.4% 10th Keith Hernandez 45 9.5 0 4.4% 2nd Mickey Lolich 34 7.2 0 0.2% 13th Ron Guidry 31 6.6 0 1.3% 4th Bob Boone 28 5.9 0 1.8% 2nd †Dwight Evans 28 5.9 - 1st †Ken Griffey* 22 4.7 - 1st Fred Lynn* 22 4.7 0 0.8% 2nd Graig Nettles* 22 4.7 0 3.2% 4th Bobby Bonds* 20 4.2 0 0.9% 11th Rusty Staub* 18 3.8 0 1.3% 7th †Rick Reuschel* 2 0.4 - 1st †Mike Scott* 2 0.4 - 1st †Garry Templeton* 2 0.4 - 1st †Terry Kennedy* 1 0.2 - 1st †Terry Puhl* 1 0.2 - 1st

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 1998 ballot.      Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration. Veterans Committee selections Nellie Fox (left) and Tommy Lasorda. Willie Wells was also inducted.

The newly-eligible candidates included 20 All-Stars, including twelve who were not on the ballot, representing a total of 39 All-Star selections. The only candidate elected to at least five All-Star Games was Dave Parker, who was selected a total of seven times. Parker was also the only MVP, winning the award once. The field also included one Cy Young Award-winner (Mike Scott) and one Rookie of the Year (Ron Kittle).

Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Marty Barrett, Tony Bernazard, Oil Can Boyd, Greg Brock, Carmen Castillo, Jim Clancy, Steve Crawford, Warren Cromartie, Scott Garrelts, Ron Hassey, Andy Hawkins, Mike Heath, Danny Heep, Tom Herr, Ron Kittle, Mike LaCoss, Dave LaPoint, Vance Law, Rick Mahler, Mike Marshall, Andy McGaffigan, Lloyd Moseby, Pascual Pérez, Dan Petry, Dan Schatzeder, John Shelby, Eric Show, Max Venable, Ed Whitson, Ernie Whitt, and Mookie Wilson.

The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to elect as many as two executives, managers, umpires, and older major league players—the categories considered in all its meetings since 1953. By an arrangement since 1995 it separately considered candidates from the Negro leagues and from the 19th century with authority to select one from each of those two special ballots.

The committee elected three people, one fewer than permitted: second baseman Nellie Fox from the 1950s, manager Tommy Lasorda from the 1970s, and shortstop Willie Wells from the Negro leagues.^[3]

Charley Feeney received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring a baseball writer. (The award was voted at the December 1996 meeting of the BBWAA, dated 1996, and conferred in the summer 1997 ceremonies.)

Jimmy Dudley received the Ford C. Frick Award honoring a baseball broadcaster.

• 1997 Election at www.baseballhalloffame.org.