The
1939 elections to select inductees to
the Baseball Hall of
Fame
were the last ones conducted prior to the Hall's
opening that year. Needing just one addition to complete the
initial goal of 10 inductees from the 20th century, members of the
Baseball Writers
Association of America (BBWAA) were once again given authority
to select any players active in the 20th century, excepting active
players. Difficulties in convening the
Centennial
Commission of the previous two years led to an even smaller
Old-Timers Committee selecting inductees from the 19th century - a
cause of particular urgency to many who had been anticipating the
five promised but unfulfilled selections in that area for over
three years.
In the
BBWAA election, voters were instructed to cast votes for 10
candidates; any candidate receiving votes on at least 75% of the
ballots would be honored with induction to the Hall upon its
opening in Cooperstown,
New York
on June 12 of that
year. After the Hall's opening, a special election was also
held in December. Because the initial goal for the Hall's opening
of selecting 10 players from the 20th century had now been met, it
was further decided to delay the next election until 1942, even
though observers widely believed that electing three players per
year (12 had been elected in four regular BBWAA elections) had
turned out to be an ideal rate.
The BBWAA regular election
A total of 274 ballots were cast, with 2710 individual votes for
108 specific candidates; 206 votes were required for election.
Although three stars of the 1920s did very well, the balloting was
otherwise dominated by players of the 1900s and 1910s, who many
voters felt should be given priority. Players who had been retired
over 20 years received 60% of the votes, and accounted for 14 of
the top 20 in the balloting. Due to frustration over the fact that
no 19th century players had yet been selected, a number of players
from that era whose careers extended into the 20th century only
briefly (or not at all) even received some votes, as did some
managers. The results were announced in January 1939. The three
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 Old-Timers Committee
As the opening of the Hall approached, criticism mounted that no
19th century figures who were known primarily as players had yet
been selected, when basic plans nearly four years earlier had
promised five as an ideal initial number. In addition, the 6-member
Centennial Commission which had selected honorees in the previous
two years never had an opportunity to meet. As a result, a smaller
committee of only three members - Commissioner
Kenesaw Mountain Landis, National
League president
Ford Frick, and American
League president
Will Harridge - was
formed to choose appropriate honorees; their selections were
announced on May 2, less than 6 weeks before the Hall's opening.
They chose six inductees, all of whom were deceased; of the 13
committee selections between 1937 and 1939, only
Connie Mack was still living at the
time of the Hall's opening (his
Athletics played in the inaugural Hall of
Fame game). The committee's choices included the two players who
had tied for first in the failed
1936
Veterans vote (the 3rd- and 4th-place finishers had by this
time been selected by the BBWAA; the 6th-place choice had been
selected by an earlier committee):
- Cap Anson, a star first baseman from
the 1870s through the late 1890s, and also a successful manager,
who is now widely recognized as the first player to collect 3000
hits in the topmost professional leagues; and
- Buck Ewing, the game's premier
catcher in the 1880s and early 1890s.
The remaining inductees were:
- Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn,
who won 309 games in an 11-year career in the 1880s, including a
record 60 wins in 1884; he had finished 7th in the 1936 vote
- Albert Spalding, the game's best
pitcher in the 1870s (252 wins from 1871 to 1876), who managed
Chicago to the first NL pennant and later became not only part
owner of the team and the club president, but also the founder of a
major sporting goods company
- Charles Comiskey, a defensive
standout at first base in the 1880s who also managed his team to
four consecutive pennants and later became owner of the Chicago White Sox, his election as a
"player" is thought to have watered down Hall of Fame
standards
- William "Candy" Cummings, who the
committee members decided had the strongest claim to having
invented the curveball
Special election of Lou Gehrig
At the major league winter meetings in Cincinnati in December 1939,
the BBWAA held a special election to act on
Lou Gehrig, who had announced his retirement that
summer. The writers elected Gehrig to the Hall of Fame and also
determined to postpone the next regular election until 1942, as the
initial quota of 10 inductees from the 20th century had been
met.
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