Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1976 followed the system in place since 1971. The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected two, Bob Lemon and Robin Roberts. The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players. It selected three players: Roger Connor, Cal Hubbard, and Freddie Lindstrom. The Negro Leagues Committee also met in person and selected Oscar Charleston. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on August 9, 1976, with Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn presiding.^[1]

BBWAA election

1976 inductees Robin Roberts (left) and Bob Lemon

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1956 or later, but not after 1970; the ballot included candidates from the 1975 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 1970. 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 32 players; a total of 388 ballots were cast, with 291 votes required for election. A total of 2,937 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.57 per ballot.

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 was elected is indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics.

Phil Rizzuto was on the ballot for the final time.

Player Votes Percent Change Robin Roberts 337 86.9 0 14.2% Bob Lemon 305 78.6 0 14.2% Gil Hodges 233 60.1 0 8.2% Enos Slaughter 197 50.8 0 1.9% Eddie Mathews 189 48.7 0 7.8% Pee Wee Reese 186 47.9 0 5.4% Nellie Fox 174 44.8 0 23.8% Duke Snider 159 41.0 0 5.4% Phil Rizzuto 149 38.4 0 6.1% George Kell 129 33.2 0 1.7% Red Schoendienst 129 33.2 0 7.2% Don Drysdale 114 29.4 0 8.4% Roger Maris 87 22.4 0 3.1% Richie Ashburn 85 21.9 0 0.9% Alvin Dark 62 16.0 0 2.7% Walker Cooper 56 14.4 0 10.8% Elston Howard 55 14.2 0 7.8% Mickey Vernon 52 13.4 0 7.3% Ted Kluszewski 50 12.9 0 3.8% Don Larsen 47 12.1 0 5.7% †Roy Face 23 5.9 - Lew Burdette 21 5.4 0 2.4% Don Newcombe 21 5.4 0 2.4% Ken Boyer 15 3.9 0 1.4% †Del Crandall 15 3.9 - Vern Law 9 2.3 0 0.6% Bobby Thomson 9 2.3 0 0.5% Harvey Haddix 8 2.1 0 0.1% Dick Groat 7 1.8 0 0.7% Bill White 7 1.8 0 0.1% Vic Wertz 5 1.3 0 0.1% Johnny Podres 2 0.5 0 0.3%

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 1977 ballot.      Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration.

The newly-eligible players included 9 All-Stars, 7 of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 28 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 8-time All-Star Del Crandall and 6-time All-Star Johnny Roseboro. The field included one Rookie of the Year (Bob Allison).

Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Jerry Adair, Hank Aguirre, Bob Allison, Gerry Arrigo, Don Cardwell, Jim Davenport, Tito Francona, Gary Geiger, Bob Johnson, Ken Johnson, Lou Klimchock, Ron Kline, Al McBean, Pedro Ramos, Rich Rollins, Johnny Roseboro, Tom Satriano, Russ Snyder, Lee Stange, Hawk Taylor, Ray Washburn and Earl Wilson.

J. G. Taylor Spink Award

Tom Meany (1903–1964) and Shirley Povich (1905–1998) received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring baseball writers.^[2][3] The awards were voted at the December 1975 meeting of the BBWAA, and included in the summer 1976 ceremonies.

References

External links

• 1976 Election at www.baseballhalloffame.org