2009 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2009 proceeded according to revised rules enacted in 2001 and further revamped in 2007. The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) held an election to select from among recent players, and elected Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson.
New inductees
3
2
1
289
July 26, 2009
In keeping with the 2007 rules changes, the Veterans Committee held an election for players who were active in the years 1943 to 1987, but not before or after that period; for the fourth consecutive election cycle, this election produced no selections. An election to select from among players who were active prior to 1943 was conducted by a separate Veterans Committee panel of 12 Hall of Famers, writers, and baseball historians, chosen by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors, and this election produced the first player selection by the Veterans Committee since 2001, Joe Gordon. An election to select managers, umpires and executives had been held for the 2008 inductions; the next such election was held prior to the 2010 inductions.
Induction ceremonies in Cooperstown were held July 26, 2009, with Commissioner Bud Selig presiding.
Veterans Committee[edit]
1943 and later[edit]
Rules for election by the Veterans Committee were revised in July 2007 following complaints that the three elections conducted under the previous format (in 2003, 2005, and 2007) had resulted in no selections. After the February 2007 election, Bud Selig expressed frustration over the ongoing difficulties, and voiced his support for a revision of the process.[1] Under the revised format, a Historical Overview Committee composed of 11 sportswriters appointed by the BBWAA's Board of Directors met in spring 2008 to develop a ballot of 20 former players active between 1943 and 1987; the committee members were: Dave Van Dyck (Chicago Tribune); Bob Elliott (Toronto Sun); Rick Hummel (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); Steve Hirdt (Elias Sports Bureau); Moss Klein (formerly Newark Star-Ledger); Bill Madden (New York Daily News); Ken Nigro (formerly Baltimore Sun); Jack O'Connell (MLB.com); Nick Peters (The Sacramento Bee); Tracy Ringolsby (Rocky Mountain News); and Mark Whicker (The Orange County Register). A six-member panel of Hall of Famers also met to independently select five players for consideration; these lists were merged to create a preliminary ballot of 21 names: Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Bert Campaneris, Rocky Colavito, Mike Cuellar, Steve Garvey, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Ted Kluszewski, Mickey Lolich, Roger Maris, Lee May, Minnie Miñoso, Thurman Munson, Tony Oliva, Al Oliver, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant, Joe Torre and Maury Wills.
Following the elections of 2003 through 2007, when the voting membership of the Veterans Committee included not only the living members of the Hall but also recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award and J. G. Taylor Spink Award, voting was now limited to Hall members; they met at the Hall during induction weekend in 2008, and reduced the ballot to 10 names through voting by mail in August. This final ballot was then sent to the 64 living members, and they voted by mail, casting votes for up to four candidates each. Any candidate receiving votes on 75% of ballots would be inducted to the Hall; a maximum of five inductees was possible. The final ballot was announced on September 16; all ten finalists were returnees from the 2007 final ballot. Results were announced on December 8 at Major League Baseball's winter meetings in Las Vegas, Nevada, but no candidate received the necessary number of votes. All 64 eligible voters cast ballots, with 48 votes required for election. Players elected in subsequent years are indicated in plain italics.
J. G. Taylor Spink Award[edit]
The J. G. Taylor Spink Award has been presented by the BBWAA at the annual summer induction ceremonies since 1962. It recognizes a sportswriter "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing". The recipients are not members of the Hall of the Fame, merely featured in a permanent exhibit at the National Baseball Museum, but writers and broadcasters commonly call them "Hall of Fame writers" or words to that effect.
Three final candidates, selected by a three-member BBWAA committee, were named on July 15, 2008 in New York City in conjunction with All-Star Game activities: Nick Peters of The Sacramento Bee, Dave Van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune, and Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun.[7] All 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to cast ballots in voting conducted by mail in November.
On December 10 at baseball's winter meetings, Nick Peters was announced as the recipient. Peters, who covered the San Francisco Giants from 1961 to 2007, received 210 votes out of the 447 ballots cast, with Elliott receiving 123 votes and Van Dyck receiving 107; seven blank ballots were submitted.[8]
Ford C. Frick Award[edit]
The Ford C. Frick Award has been presented at the annual summer induction ceremonies since 1978. It recognizes a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball". The recipients are not members of the Hall of the Fame, merely featured in a permanent exhibit at the National Baseball Museum, but writers and broadcasters commonly call them "Hall of Fame broadcaster" or words to that effect.
To be eligible, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league broadcast service with a ball club, a network, or a combination of the two.
Ten finalists were announced on October 6, 2008.[9] In accordance with guidelines established in 2003, seven were chosen by a 20-member committee composed of the 15 living recipients, along with 5 additional broadcasting historians and columnists: Bob Costas (NBC), Barry Horn (The Dallas Morning News), Stan Isaacs (formerly of New York Newsday), Ted Patterson (historian) and Curt Smith (historian). The seven finalists chosen by the committee were: Billy Berroa, Ken Coleman, Dizzy Dean, Lanny Frattare, Tony Kubek, Graham McNamee and Dave Van Horne. Three additional candidates – Tom Cheek, Jacques Doucet and Joe Nuxhall – were selected from a list of 210 candidates through results of voting by fans conducted throughout September at the Hall's official website,[10] with 145,138 ballots cast.
On December 9 at baseball's winter meetings, it was announced that Tony Kubek would be the recipient. Kubek, who was a television analyst for NBC, the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees from 1965 until his 1994 retirement, became the first recipient of the Frick Award whose broadcasting career was solely in television (1995 recipient Bob Woolf is best known as a television play-by-play man, but has also worked in radio), and also the first recipient to have called games for a Canadian team. He was selected in a November vote by the same committee which selected the finalists. They voted by mail, and based the selection on the following criteria: longevity; continuity with a club; honors, including national assignments such as the World Series and All-Star Games; and popularity with fans.[11]