2016 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

On July 26, 2014, the Hall announced changes to the rules for election for recently retired players, reducing the number of years a player will be eligible to be on the ballot from fifteen years to ten. Two candidates presently on the BBWAA ballot (Lee Smith and Alan Trammell) in years 10-15 were grandfathered into this system and retained their previous 15 years of eligibility. In addition, BBWAA members who were otherwise eligible to cast ballots were required to complete a registration form and sign a code of conduct before receiving their ballots, and the Hall will make public the names of all members who cast ballots (but not their individual votes) when it announces the election results. The code of conduct specifically states that the ballot is non-transferable, a direct reaction to Dan Le Batard turning his 2014 Hall of Fame ballot over to the sports website Deadspin and allowing the site's readers to make his Hall votes (an act that drew him a lifetime ban from future Hall voting). Violation of the code of conduct will result in a lifetime ban from BBWAA voting. The most recent rules change, announced on July 28, 2015, tightened the qualifications for the BBWAA electorate. Beginning with the 2016 election, eligible voters must not only have 10 years of continuous BBWAA membership, but also be currently active members, or have held active status within the 10 years prior to the election. A BBWAA member who has not been active for more than 10 years can regain voting status by covering MLB in the year preceding the election. As a result of the new rule, the vote total in 2016 decreased by 109 from the previous year, to 440. The BBWAA ballot was announced on November 9, 2015; ballots were submitted by December 21, and results were announced on January 6, 2016. The ballot included two categories of players: • Candidates from the 2015 ballot who received at least 5% of the vote but were not elected, as long as they first appeared on the BBWAA ballot no earlier than 2002. • Selected individuals, chosen by a screening committee, whose last appearance was in 2010. All BBWAA members with at least 10 years of continuous membership and active membership status at any time in the preceding 10 years were eligible to vote. There were 440 total ballots cast with 3,496 individual votes for players, an average of 7.95 players named per ballot. As in most recent elections, the controversy over use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) is likely to dominate the election. ESPN.com columnist Jim Caple noted in the days before the announcement of the 2012 results that the PED issue and the BBWAA's limit of 10 votes per ballot was likely to result in a major backlog in upcoming elections: In his first year on the ballot, Ken Griffey Jr. received 99.3% of the vote, a BBWAA election record at the time (surpassing the 98.84% of Tom Seaver). Mike Piazza, in his fourth year, finished second at 83.0% and was the only other player elected. Results Players who were eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Ronnie Belliard, Eric Byrnes, Frank Catalanotto, Jesús Colomé, Elmer Dessens, Pedro Feliz, José Guillén, Cristian Guzmán, Bob Howry, Gabe Kapler, Mike Lamb, Jason LaRue, Ron Mahay, Dámaso Marte, Gary Matthews Jr., Gil Meche, Brian Moehler, Chad Moeller, Bengie Molina, Russ Ortiz, Chan Ho Park, Jay Payton, Mike Redmond, Juan Rincón, David Riske, Scott Schoeneweis, Scot Shields, Russ Springer, Fernando Tatís, Jeff Weaver and Gregg Zaun. ==Pre-Integration Era Committee==

In keeping with the voting procedure by eras, the BBWAA-appointed Historical Overview Committee, made up of 11 BBWAA members, identified ten Pre-Integration candidates who were judged to have made their greatest contributions from the origins of the sport to the end of baseball's color line in 1947. This era was previously under consideration in the 2013 election, when three candidates were elected; Bill Dahlen was the only other candidate to receive more than three votes. Along with the era, these rules defined the consideration set: At the time of the election, figures from this era were scheduled to be considered prior to the 2019 inductions. However, in July 2016, the Hall announced changes to its era-based committee system, replacing the three then-current committees with four new voting bodies. The Pre-Integration Era body was replaced by the newly created Early Baseball committee. The new committee will consider figures whose greatest contributions occurred before 1950 (a slightly broader time frame from its predecessor), but will not hold its first meeting until 2020 as part of the 2021 election process. Most significantly, this committee will meet only once a decade, specifically in years ending in 0. The candidates for election were: Breadon, Dahlen, Ferrell, Marion and Walters were previously candidates on the 2013 ballot. ==J. G. Taylor Spink Award==

The J. G. Taylor Spink Award has been presented by the BBWAA at the annual summer induction ceremonies since 1962. Through 2010, it was awarded during the main induction ceremony, but is now given the previous day at the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation. It recognizes a sportswriter "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing". The recipients are not members of the Hall of Fame but are featured in a permanent exhibit at the National Baseball Museum. On December 8, 2015, Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy received 185 out of 417 of the votes cast, making him the 2016 recipient of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award. ==Ford C. Frick Award==

The Ford C. Frick Award, honoring excellence in baseball broadcasting, has been presented at the induction ceremonies since 1978. Through 2010, it had been presented at the main induction ceremony, but is now awarded at the Awards Presentation. Recipients are not members of the Hall of Fame but are permanently recognized in an exhibit at the museum. To be eligible, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league broadcast service with a ball club, a network, or a combination of the two. The honor is based on four criteria: longevity; continuity with a club; honors, including national assignments such as the World Series and All-Star Games; and popularity with fans. This was the third and final Frick Award selection under a process similar to that instituted for Veterans Committee balloting in 2010. Under this process, candidates were considered every third year, based on the era in which they made their most significant contributions: • "Broadcasting Dawn Era" — 1920s to early 1950s, including the early radio broadcasters. Individuals from this era were considered for the 2016 award. • "High Tide Era" — Mid-1980s to present, including the rise of regional cable networks. Individuals from this era were last considered for the 2014 award. • "Living Room Era" — Mid-1950s to early 1980s, including the rise of television. Individuals from this era were last considered for the 2015 award. As part of the rules changes announced in July 2016, the Hall also announced changes to the Frick Award selection process, effective with the 2017 award. While the process will continue to involve three annually rotating voting bodies, the groups of candidates to be considered by each committee have changed. The newly established committees will rotate in the following order: "Current Major League Markets" (team-specific broadcasters), "National Voices" (national broadcasters), and "Broadcasting Beginnings" (early broadcasters). In addition, the number of finalists will be reduced from 10 to 8, and the three ballot slots that had been filled by fan voting on the Hall's Facebook page will now be chosen by a committee of baseball historians. In accord with the current guidelines, seven were chosen by a Hall of Fame research committee, while the other three were selected (for the final time) from a list of candidates by fan voting at the Hall's Facebook page from September 14 to October 2. • Jack Graney • Harry Heilmann • Al Helfer • France Laux • Tom Manning • Graham McNamee • Rosey Rowswell • Hal Totten • Ty Tyson • Bert Wilson All of the candidates were deceased, ==Notes and references==