1997 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

The 1997 elections to select inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame followed the same system in use since 1995. The BBWAA election continued to apply a 75% rule to all eligible players, while the Veterans Committee met in closed door sessions to select from players ineligible for the BBWAA election, as well as managers and executives.

The BBWAA election

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. 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 †. 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 a *.

Dick Allen and Joe Torre were on the ballot for the 15th and final time.

Player	Votes	Percent
Phil Niekro	380	80.3
Don Sutton	346	73.2
Tony Perez	312	66.0
Ron Santo	186	39.3
Jim Rice	178	37.6
Steve Garvey	167	35.3
Bruce Sutter	130	27.5
Jim Kaat	107	22.6
Joe Torre	105	22.2
Tommy John	97	20.5
Minnie Minoso	84	17.8
†Dave Parker	83	17.5
Dick Allen	79	16.7
Dave Concepcion	60	12.7
Luis Tiant	53	11.2
Keith Hernandez	45	9.5
Mickey Lolich	34	7.2
Ron Guidry	31	6.6
Bob Boone	28	5.9
†Dwight Evans	28	5.9
†Ken Griffey*	22	4.7
Fred Lynn*	22	4.7
†Graig Nettles*	22	4.7
Bobby Bonds*	20	4.2
Rusty Staub*	18	3.8
†Rick Reuschel*	2	0.4
†Mike Scott*	2	0.4
†Garry Templeton*	2	0.4
†Terry Kennedy*	1	0.2
†Terry Puhl*	1	0.2

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 Perez, Dan Petry, Dan Schatzeder, John Shelby, Eric Show, Max Venable, Ed Whitson, Ernie Whitt, and Mookie Wilson.

External links

• 1997 Election at www.baseballhalloffame.org.