Receiving just one vote for the Hall of Fame
From SABR member Graham Womack at The Hardball Times on November 17, 2011:
Last year, Benito Santiago and Bret Boone made their first and only appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot for the Baseball Writers Association of America. Neither man came close to the 75 percent of the vote needed from the writers for enshrinement, which shouldn’t have come as any surprise, really. Santiago and Boone collectively boasted about 3,600 hits and a .265 lifetime batting average, and there were rumors that each used steroids.
They at least fared better on the Cooperstown ballot than Raul Mondesi and Carlos Baerga, among others who went voteless. And in the process, Boone and Santiago joined an interesting club, ballplayers who’ve received one vote for the Hall of Fame.
Since 1964, 115 baseball players have received one vote in a year from the BBWAA for the Hall of Fame. Prior to this, in the years leading back to the initial election for Cooperstown in 1936, the results were wilder, with an average of 27 players each year getting one vote. A number of these earlier players have since been enshrined, including Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto and Warren Spahn who received lone votes in the days when active players sometimes got nods for Cooperstown.
Read the full article here: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/getting-one-vote-for-the-hall-of-fame/
Originally published: November 17, 2011. Last Updated: November 17, 2011.