1982 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting


Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1982 followed the system in place since 1978.
The Baseball Writers' Association of America voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected two, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson. The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider older major league players as well as managers, umpires, executives, and figures from the Negro Leagues. It selected the second Commissioner of Baseball, Happy Chandler, and former New York Giants shortstop Travis Jackson. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on August 1, 1982, with the current Commissioner of Baseball, Bowie Kuhn, presiding.

BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1962 or later, but not after 1976; the ballot included candidates from the 1981 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 1976. 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 42 players; a total of 415 ballots were cast, with 312 votes required for election. A total of 3,344 individual votes were cast, an average of 8.06 per ballot. Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote 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 dagger. The two candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and were elected is indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. The 18 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk.
PlayerVotesPercentChange
†Hank Aaron40697.8-
†Frank Robinson37089.2-
Juan Marichal30573.5 15.4%
Harmon Killebrew24659.3 0.3%
Hoyt Wilhelm23656.9 2.5%
Don Drysdale23356.1 4.5%
Gil Hodges20549.4 10.7%
Luis Aparicio17441.9 5.0%
Jim Bunning13833.3 7.6%
Red Schoendienst13532.5 8.9%
Nellie Fox12730.6 11.3%
Richie Ashburn12630.4 5.0%
†Billy Williams9723.4-
Maury Wills9121.9 18.7%
Roger Maris6916.6 6.8%
†Tony Oliva6315.2-
Harvey Kuenn6214.9 8.3%
Lew Burdette4310.4 1.6%
Orlando Cepeda4210.1 9.1%
Elston Howard409.6 11.1%
Don Larsen327.7 0.5%
Bill Mazeroski286.7 2.8%
Thurman Munson266.3 9.2%
Roy Face225.3 0.4%
Vada Pinson*61.4 3.1%
†Tommy Davis*51.2-
Dave McNally*51.2-
Lindy McDaniel*30.7 0.5%
†Rico Petrocelli*30.7-
†Jim Brewer*20.5-
†Bill Freehan*20.5-
Leo Cárdenas*10.2-
Claude Osteen*10.2-
Gates Brown*00.0-
†Tommy Harper*00.0-
†Alex Johnson*00.0-
†Deron Johnson*00.0-
†Cleon Jones*00.0-
Jim Northrup*00.0-
Sonny Siebert*00.0-
†Tony Taylor*00.0-
†César Tovar*00.0-

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 1983 ballot.
Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration.

The newly-eligible players included 17 All-Stars, two of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 74 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 21-time All-Star Hank Aaron, 12-time All-Star Frank Robinson, 11-time All-Star Bill Freehan, 9-time All-Star Tony Oliva and 6-time All-Star Billy Williams. The field included two MVPs, and three Rookies of the Year.
Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Dick Bosman, Buddy Bradford, Nate Colbert, Dave Duncan, Alan Foster, Danny Frisella, Ted Kubiak, Bob Moose, Blue Moon Odom, Fritz Peterson, and Ken Sanders.