1977 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting


Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1977 followed the system in place since 1971.
The Baseball Writers' Association of America voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected Ernie Banks. The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players. It selected three people: Al López, Amos Rusie, and Joe Sewell. The Negro Leagues Committee also met in person and selected two players, Martín Dihigo and John Henry Lloyd. The Negro Leagues Committee also decided to disband; it had elected nine players in seven years. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on August 8, 1977, with Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn presiding.

BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1957 or later, but not after 1971; the ballot included candidates from the 1976 ballot who were not elected, along with selected players, chosen by a screening committee, whose last appearance was in 1971. 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 34 players; a total of 383 ballots were cast, with 288 votes required for election. A total of 2,929 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.65 per ballot.
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 elected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics.
George Kell and Walker Cooper were on the ballot for the final time. Harvey Kuenn, whose last game had been in 1966, was eligible for the first time due to his appearance on the roster of the Milwaukee Brewers for two weeks in 1970.
PlayerVotesPercentChange
Ernie Banks32183.8-
Eddie Mathews23962.4 13.7%
Gil Hodges22458.5 1.6%
Enos Slaughter22258.0 7.2%
Duke Snider21255.4 14.4%
Don Drysdale19751.4 22.0%
Pee Wee Reese16342.6 5.3%
Nellie Fox15239.7 5.1%
Jim Bunning14638.1-
George Kell14136.8 3.6%
Richie Ashburn13936.3 14.4%
Red Schoendienst10527.4 5.8%
Lew Burdette8522.2 16.8%
Roger Maris7218.8 3.6%
Alvin Dark6617.2 1.2%
†Harvey Kuenn5714.9-
Ted Kluszewski5514.4 1.5%
Mickey Vernon5213.6 0.2%
Walker Cooper4511.7 2.7%
Elston Howard4311.2 3.0%
Don Newcombe4311.2 5.8%
Don Larsen3910.2 1.9%
Roy Face338.6 2.7%
†Curt Flood164.2-
Ken Boyer143.7 0.2%
Bobby Thomson102.6 0.3%
Del Crandall82.1 1.8%
Harvey Haddix71.8 0.3%
Vern Law51.3 1.0%
Dick Groat41.0 0.8%
Vic Wertz41.0 0.3%
Bill White41.0 0.8%
†Camilo Pascual30.8-
Johnny Podres30.8 0.3%

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 1978 ballot.
Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration.

Harvey Kuenn, whose last game played was in 1966, was actually activated by the Brewers for the last two weeks of 1971, in order for him to qualify for pension purposes. He did not play in an actual game, however.
The newly-eligible players included 13 All-Stars, 8 of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 50 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 11-time All-Star Ernie Banks, 8-time All-Star Harvey Kuenn, and 7-time All-Stars Jim Bunning and Camilo Pascual. The field included two MVPs, one Cy Young Award winner and one Rookie of the Year.
Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Bob Aspromonte, Clete Boyer, George Brunet, Dean Chance, Ty Cline, Clay Dalrymple, Dick Ellsworth, Jake Gibbs, Tony González, Mudcat Grant, Dick Hall, Jim Hannan, Mike Hershberger, Chuck Hinton, Mack Jones, Cal Koonce, Jim Maloney, Lee Maye, Mike McCormick, Don Pavletich, Claude Raymond, Howie Reed, Ducky Schofield, Al Spangler, George Thomas, Zoilo Versalles and Al Weis.