1970 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting


Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1970 followed the system of annual elections in place since 1968. The Baseball Writers' Association of America voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected Lou Boudreau. The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players. It selected three people: Earle Combs, Ford Frick, and Jesse Haines. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on July 27, 1970, with Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn presiding.

BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1950 or later, but not after 1964; the ballot included candidates from the 1969 ballot along with selected players, chosen by a screening committee, whose last appearance was in 1964. 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 46 players; a total of 300 ballots were cast, with 225 votes required for election. A total of 2,302 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.67 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.
Joe Gordon, Tommy Henrich and Bucky Walters were on the ballot for the final time.
PlayerVotesPercentChange
Lou Boudreau23277.3 13.2%
Ralph Kiner16755.7 15.4%
Gil Hodges14548.3 24.2%
Early Wynn14046.7 18.8%
Enos Slaughter13344.3 6.7%
Johnny Mize12642.0 7.9%
Marty Marion12040.0 7.1%
Pee Wee Reese9732.3 6.1%
Red Schoendienst9732.3 13.2%
George Kell9030.0 12.4%
Allie Reynolds8929.7 0.9%
Johnny Vander Meer8829.3 1.4%
Hal Newhouser8026.7 2.6%
Joe Gordon7926.3 2.2%
Phil Rizzuto7926.3 3.4%
Bobby Doerr7525.0 6.8%
Bob Lemon7525.0 8.5%
Tommy Henrich6220.7 6.0%
Alvin Dark5518.3 4.2%
Phil Cavarretta5117.0 6.1%
Duke Snider5117.0-
Bucky Walters299.7 3.8%
Dom DiMaggio155.0 1.2%
Ewell Blackwell144.7 1.5%
Bobo Newsom124.0 5.4%
Richie Ashburn113.7 0.8%
Mickey Vernon103.3 2.9%
Walker Cooper93.0 1.5%
Johnny Sain93.0 0.6%
Ted Kluszewski82.7 0.5%
Charlie Keller72.3 1.8%
†Bobby Shantz72.3-
Dutch Leonard51.7 0.5%
Wally Moses51.7 0.5%
Don Newcombe51.7 0.8%
†Billy Pierce51.7-
Bobby Thomson41.3 0.5%
Harry Brecheen31.0 0.4%
Augie Galan31.0-
Carl Erskine20.7 0.9%
Carl Furillo20.7-
†Vic Wertz20.7-
Jackie Jensen10.3-
Ed Lopat10.3 0.3%
Gil McDougald10.3 0.6%
Preacher Roe10.3-

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 1971 ballot.
Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration.

Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Gus Bell, Hal Brown, Bud Daley, Hank Foiles, Paul Foytack, Don Hoak, Sam Jones, Charlie Maxwell, Cal McLish, Bubba Phillips, Wally Post, Pete Runnels, Al Smith, Hal Smith, Gene Stephens, Tom Sturdivant, Johnny Temple, Lee Walls and Dick Williams.