2002 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting


Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2002 proceeded in keeping with rules enacted in 2001. The Baseball Writers' Association of America held an election to select from among recent players; Ozzie Smith was elected.
The Veterans Committee did not hold an election; the 2001 rules changes provided that elections for players retired over 20 years would be held every other year, with elections of non-players held every fourth year. The Committee held elections in 2001 for players who were active no later than 1979. The next Veterans Committee election, for both categories, was in 2003.
The induction ceremonies were held on July 28 in Cooperstown, with Commissioner Bud Selig presiding.

The BBWAA election

The BBWAA was again authorized to elect players active in 1982 or later, but not after 1996; the ballot included candidates from the 2001 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 1996. 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. Results of the 2002 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 8, 2002. The ballot consisted of 28 players; 472 ballots were cast, with 354 votes required for election. A total of 2810 individual votes were cast, an average of 5.96 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 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 8 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk.
Luis Tiant was on the ballot for the 15th and final time.
PlayerVotesPercentChangeYear
†Ozzie Smith43391.7-1st
Gary Carter34372.7 7.8%5th
Jim Rice26055.1 2.8%8th
Bruce Sutter23850.4 2.8%9th
†Andre Dawson21445.3-1st
Rich "Goose" Gossage20343.0 1.3%3rd
Steve Garvey13428.4 5.8%10th
Tommy John12726.9 1.4%8th
Bert Blyleven12426.3 2.8%5th
Jim Kaat10923.1 3.1%14th
Jack Morris9720.6 1.0%3rd
Don Mattingly9620.3 7.9%2nd
Luis Tiant8518.0 5.8%15th
†Alan Trammell7415.7-1st
Dale Murphy7014.8 3.3%4th
Dave Parker6614.0 2.3%6th
Dave Concepción5611.9 2.5%9th
Keith Hernandez296.1 1.9%7th
Ron Guidry*234.9 0.3%9th
Dave Stewart*234.9 2.5%2nd
†Mike Greenwell*20.4-1st
†Frank Viola*20.4-1st
†Lenny Dykstra*10.2-1st
†Tim Wallach*10.2-1st
†Mike Henneman*00.0-1st
†Jeff Russell*00.0-1st
†Scott Sanderson*00.0-1st
†Robby Thompson*00.0-1st

The newly-eligible players included twelve All-Stars, one of whom was not on the ballot, representing a total of 49 All-Star selections. Among the candidates were 15-time All Star Ozzie Smith, 8-time All Star Andre Dawson, 6-time All-Star Alan Trammell and 5-time All Star Tim Wallach. The field also included two Rookies of the Year, one Cy Young Award winner and one MVP. Finally, Ozzie Smith holds the record for Gold Gloves at Shortstop, with thirteen.
Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Mike Aldrete, Joe Boever, Chris Bosio, Mark Carreon, Rob Deer, Mark Eichhorn, Félix Fermín, Marvin Freeman, Lee Guetterman, Chris Gwynn, John Habyan, Mel Hall, Steve Howe, Dion James, Mike Kingery, Kirk McCaskill, Roger McDowell, Rich Monteleone, Jeff Parrett, Alejandro Peña, Dick Schofield, Zane Smith, Milt Thompson, and Dave Valle.

J.G. Taylor Spink Award

received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award
honoring a baseball writer.

Ford C. Frick Award

received the Ford C. Frick Award honoring a baseball broadcaster.

Footnotes