The BBWAA was empowered to vote for players who were active from 1951 to 1965, excluding those still playing after 1965. The ballot featured candidates from the 1970 ballot who received a minimum of 5% of the vote but were not elected, along with additional players selected by a screening committee whose careers ended in 1965. All BBWAA members with at least 10 years of membership were eligible to participate in the voting process. 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 48 players; a total of 360 ballots were cast, with 270 votes required for election. A total of 2,681 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.45 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 (†). Candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in
italics.
Johnny Vander Meer and
Bobby Doerr were on the ballot for the final time. The field of newly eligible players included 13 All Stars, 7 of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 70 All Star selections. The new class included 18-time All-Star Yogi Berra, 15-time All-Star Nellie Fox, 6-time All-Star Vic Power, and 5-time All-Stars Dick Donovan and Roy Sievers. Players eligible for the first time who were
not included on the ballot were:
Frank Baumann,
Gino Cimoli,
Dick Donovan,
Ryne Duren,
Gordon Jones,
Frank Lary,
Don Mossi,
Gus Triandos and
Don Zimmer. == J. G. Taylor Spink Award ==