2009 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2009 proceeded according to revised rules enacted in 2001 and further revamped in 2007. The Baseball Writers' Association of America held an election to select from among recent players, and elected Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson.
In keeping with the 2007 rules changes, the Veterans Committee held an election for players who were active in the years 1943 to 1987, but not before or after that period; for the fourth consecutive election cycle, this election produced no selections. An election to select from among players who were active prior to 1943 was conducted by a separate Veterans Committee panel of 12 Hall of Famers, writers, and baseball historians, chosen by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors, and this election produced the first Veterans Committee selection since 2001, Joe Gordon. An election to select managers, umpires and executives was held for the 2008 inductions; the next such election was held prior to the 2010 inductions.
Induction ceremonies in Cooperstown were held July 26, 2009, with Commissioner Bud Selig presiding.
BBWAA election
The BBWAA was again authorized to elect players active in 1989 or later, but not after 2003; the ballot, announced on December 1, 2008, included candidates from the 2008 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 2003. All 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to vote; ballots had to be returned by December 31.Voters were instructed to cast votes for up to 10 candidates; any candidate who received votes on at least 75% of the ballots would be honored with induction to the Hall. Results of the 2009 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 12. The ballot consisted of 23 players, the lowest number ever; there were 13 candidates returning from the 2008 ballot, also a record low.
539 ballots were cast, with 405 votes required for election. A total of 2,902 individual votes were cast, an average of 5.38 per ballot. Those candidates who received 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 candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and were elected are indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been selected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. The candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk.
Tommy John and Jim Rice were on the ballot for the 15th and final time; Rice became the first player elected in his final year of BBWAA ballot eligibility since Ralph Kiner in, while John's eligibility ran out.
| Player | Votes | Percent | Change | Year |
| †Rickey Henderson | 511 | 94.8 | – | 1st |
| Jim Rice | 412 | 76.4 | 4.2% | 15th |
| Andre Dawson | 361 | 67.0 | 1.1% | 8th |
| Bert Blyleven | 338 | 62.7 | 0.8% | 12th |
| Lee Smith | 240 | 44.5 | 1.2% | 7th |
| Jack Morris | 237 | 44.0 | 1.1% | 10th |
| Tommy John | 171 | 31.7 | 2.6% | 15th |
| Tim Raines | 122 | 22.6 | 1.7% | 2nd |
| Mark McGwire | 118 | 21.9 | 1.7% | 3rd |
| Alan Trammell | 94 | 17.4 | 1.8% | 8th |
| Dave Parker | 81 | 15.0 | 0.1% | 13th |
| Don Mattingly | 64 | 11.9 | 3.9% | 9th |
| Dale Murphy | 62 | 11.5 | 2.3% | 11th |
| Harold Baines | 32 | 5.9 | 0.7% | 3rd |
| †Mark Grace* | 22 | 4.1 | – | 1st |
| †David Cone* | 21 | 3.9 | – | 1st |
| †Matt Williams* | 7 | 1.3 | – | 1st |
| †Mo Vaughn* | 6 | 1.1 | – | 1st |
| †Jay Bell* | 2 | 0.4 | – | 1st |
| †Jesse Orosco* | 1 | 0.2 | – | 1st |
| †Ron Gant* | 0 | 0 | – | 1st |
| †Dan Plesac* | 0 | 0 | – | 1st |
| †Greg Vaughn* | 0 | 0 | – | 1st |
The newly-eligible candidates included 22 All-Stars, who were selected a combined total of 58 times – a slight increase from 2008, when 17 All-Stars who had been selected a total of 43 times became eligible. Rickey Henderson, a 10-time All-Star, was the only new candidate who was selected more than five times. The ballot included two MVPs, and one Cy Young Award-winner and perfect game thrower, none of them winning more than once.
Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Steve Avery, Jason Bere, Mike Bordick, John Burkett, Omar Daal, Joe Girardi, Mark Guthrie, Joey Hamilton, Bill Haselman, Darren Holmes, Trenidad Hubbard, Todd Hundley, Brian L. Hunter, Félix José, Chad Kreuter, Graeme Lloyd, Keith Lockhart, Albie Lopez, Pat Mahomes, Al Martin, Orlando Merced, Charles Nagy, Denny Neagle, Troy O'Leary, Lance Painter, Dean Palmer, Craig Paquette, Tom Prince, Jeff Reboulet, Rick Reed, Rich Rodriguez, Terry Shumpert, Luis Sojo, Dave Veres, Matt Walbeck, Mike Williams and Kevin Young.
None of the newly-eligible candidates would appear on any future ballots. As expected, Henderson was elected on his first appearance; no other first-timer received the 5% of votes required to remain on the ballot. As a result, the 2010 ballot broke the record set this year for fewest returning candidates, with only 11 players returning.
Veterans Committee
1943 and later
Rules for election by the Veterans Committee were revised in July 2007 following complaints that the three elections conducted under the previous format had resulted in no selections. After the February 2007 election, Bud Selig expressed frustration over the ongoing difficulties, and voiced his support for a revision of the process. Under the revised format, a Historical Overview Committee composed of 11 sportswriters appointed by the BBWAA's Board of Directors met in spring 2008 to develop a ballot of 20 former players active between 1943 and 1987; the committee members were: Dave Van Dyck ; Bob Elliott ; Rick Hummel ; Steve Hirdt ; Moss Klein ; Bill Madden ; Ken Nigro ; Jack O'Connell ; Nick Peters ; Tracy Ringolsby ; and Mark Whicker. A six-member panel of Hall of Famers also met to independently select five players for consideration; these lists were merged to create a preliminary ballot of 21 names: Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Bert Campaneris, Rocky Colavito, Mike Cuellar, Steve Garvey, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Ted Kluszewski, Mickey Lolich, Roger Maris, Lee May, Minnie Miñoso, Thurman Munson, Tony Oliva, Al Oliver, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant, Joe Torre and Maury Wills.Following the elections of 2003 through 2007, when the voting membership of the Veterans Committee included not only the living members of the Hall but also recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award and J. G. Taylor Spink Award, voting was now limited to Hall members; they met at the Hall during induction weekend in 2008, and reduced the ballot to 10 names through voting by mail in August. This final ballot was then sent to the 64 living members, and they voted by mail, casting votes for up to four candidates each. Any candidate receiving votes on 75% of ballots would be inducted to the Hall; a maximum of five inductees was possible. The final ballot was announced on September 16; all ten finalists were returnees from the 2007 final ballot. Results were announced on December 8 at Major League Baseball's winter meetings in Las Vegas, Nevada, but no candidate received the necessary number of votes. All 64 eligible voters cast ballots, with 48 votes required for election. Players elected in subsequent years are indicated in plain italics.
Pre-1943For the first and ultimately only time, a separate election was held for players whose major league careers began before 1943; these elections are scheduled to occur every five years. The election was conducted on December 7, 2008 at the winter meetings in Las Vegas, among a committee of twelve Hall members and members of the media, with results announced the following day; votes by proxy would be allowed only in emergencies, but this was not necessary. The Historical Overview Committee of the BBWAA selected 10 candidates to appear on the ballot, with votes from 75% of the committee necessary for election; each committee member could vote for up to four candidates, allowing for a maximum of five selections. The final ballot was announced on August 25; the candidate who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated in bold italics.
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