1967 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting


Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1967 included a special election, as the Baseball Writers' Association of America held its first balloting in an odd-number year since 1955. The special election was held due to some ineligible players having received votes in the prior year's balloting, and the BBWAA wanting "to give those eligible every opportunity" to be selected.
In this year's voting, the BBWAA did not elect anyone on the first ballot. In a second election, Red Ruffing received the most votes, resulting in his election to the Hall of Fame. Had this year's special election not been held, Ruffing would have been ineligible for selection by the writers in 1968, as he last played in 1947 and would have exceeded the 20-year eligibility limit. BBWAA rules were subsequently updated to return to annual voting, while eliminating runoff ballots.
The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players. It selected two people, Branch Rickey and Lloyd Waner. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on July 24, 1967, with Commissioner of Baseball William Eckert presiding.

BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1947 or later, but not after 1961; the ballot included selected players, chosen by a screening committee, whose last appearance was in 1961. 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 47 players; a total of 292 ballots were cast, with 219 votes required for election. A total of 2,321 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.95 per ballot.
No one reached the threshold, so there was a runoff election featuring the 31 leading candidates. There would be one winner regardless of numerical support on the second ballot; in fact, winner Red Ruffing tallied 266 of 306 votes or 87%. A total of 1,198 individual votes were cast in the run-off, an average of 4.10 per ballot, as voters concentrated their support on the leading candidates.
Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a dagger. Candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. Al López was later elected as a manager.
Red Ruffing, Al López, Billy Herman, Mel Harder and Ernie Lombardi were on the ballot for the final time because they last played in 1947.
PlayerVotePercentChangeRunoff
Red Ruffing21272.6 3.7%266
Joe Medwick21272.6 10.7%248
Roy Campanella20469.9 4.7%170
Lou Boudreau14349.0 10.9%68
Ralph Kiner12442.5 18.0%41
Enos Slaughter12342.1 9.0%48
Al López11439.0 2.9%50
Marty Marion9030.8 2.3%22
Johnny Mize8930.5 3.7%14
Pee Wee Reese8930.5 1.0%16
Johnny Vander Meer8729.8 6.0%35
Allie Reynolds7726.4 6.5%19
Phil Rizzuto7124.3 6.4%14
Joe Gordon6622.6 12.3%13
Bucky Walters6522.3 3.8%24
Hal Newhouser6221.2 10.6%13
Billy Herman5920.2 10.9%14
Mel Harder5217.8 6.5%14
Arky Vaughan4615.8 3.9%19
Ernie Lombardi4314.7 3.4%25
George Kell4013.7 4.1%11
Alvin Dark3813.0 7.4%7
Bobby Doerr3512.0 2.1%15
Bob Lemon3512.0 5.0%7
†Hank Bauer237.9-9
Bobo Newsom196.5 1.8%6
Don Newcombe186.2 3.9%2
Phil Cavarretta155.1 2.1%4
Mickey Vernon144.8 1.8%2
Larry Doby103.4 1.1%1
Bobby Thomson103.4 0.6%1
†Ted Kluszewski93.1--
Gil McDougald41.4 0.3%-
†Jackie Jensen31.0--
Terry Moore31.0--
Del Ennis20.7 0.3%-
Carl Furillo20.7-
Jim Hegan20.7 1.0%-
†Earl Torgeson20.7--
†Elmer Valo20.7--
†Clint Courtney10.3--
†Walt Dropo10.3--
†Ned Garver10.3--
Grady Hatton10.3 1.0%-
Jim Hearn10.3-
†Billy Martin10.3--
Andy Pafko10.3 0.4%-

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 1968 ballot.
Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remained eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration.