2015 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
Candidate Category Votes Percent
Dick Allen Player 11 68.8%
Tony Oliva Player 11 68.8%
Jim Kaat Player 10 62.5%
Maury Wills Player 9 56.3%
Minnie Miñoso Player 8 50%
Ken Boyer Player < 3 < 18.8%
Gil Hodges Player < 3 < 18.8%
Bob Howsam Executive < 3 < 18.8%
Billy Pierce Player < 3 < 18.8%
Luis Tiant Player < 3 < 18.8%
Golden Era Committee
In keeping with the current Hall of Fame voting procedure , the BBWAA-appointed Historical Overview Committee , made up of 11 BBWAA members , identified 10 Golden Era candidates who were judged to have made their greatest contributions between 1947 and 1972 . Along with the 1947–1972 era , these rules defined the consideration set : [ 5 ] Players who played in at least 10 major league seasons , who are not on Major League Baseball 's ineligible list ( e.g. , Pete Rose ) , and have been retired for 21 or more seasons . Managers and umpires with 10 or more years in baseball and retired for at least five years . Candidates who are 65 years or older are eligible six months following retirement . Executives retired for at least five years . Active executives age 65 or older are eligible for consideration . The eleven Historical Overview Committee members ( the same members who served in 2011 ) were : Dave Van Dyck ( Chicago Tribune ) , Bob Elliot ( Toronto Sun ) , Rick Hummel ( St. Louis Post Dispatch ) , Steve Hirdt ( Elias Sports Bureau ) , Bill Madden ( New York Daily News ) , Ken Nigro ( formerly Baltimore Sun ) , Jack O'Connell ( BBWAA Secretary/Treasurer ) , Tracy Ringolsby ( MLB.com ) , Glen Schwartz ( formerly San Francisco Chronicle ) , Claire Smith ( ESPN ) and Mark Whicker ( Los Angeles News Group ) . [ 5 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] The names of the committee members were released by the Hall of Fame on November 4 , 2014 . The ballot for election by the Golden Era Committee was released on October 30 , 2014 ; [ 17 ] the committee voted at the MLB winter meetings in San Diego on December 8 , 2014 , with the results announced by MLB immediately thereafter . The cutoff for election and summer 2015 induction remained the standard 75% , or 12 of 16 votes . [ 16 ] None of the candidates received enough votes , continuing a long period of difficulty in electing players eligible under the Hall 's special committees ; the last living player elected to the Hall after the expiration of his BBWAA eligibility was Bill Mazeroski in 2001 . [ 18 ]
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2015 proceeded according to rules most recently amended in 2014. As in the past, the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from a ballot of recently retired players, with results announced on January 6, 2015. Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio were elected to the Hall of Fame. It was the first time since that the BBWAA elected four players in one year. The Golden Era Committee, one of three voting panels by era that replaced the more broadly defined Veterans Committee following an earlier rules change in July 2010, convened at Major League Baseball's winter meetings in San Diego on December 8, 2014, to select from a ballot of 10 retired players and non-playing personnel who made their greatest contributions to the sport between 1947 and 1972. None of these candidates received enough votes to be elected. The Hall of Fame induction ceremonies were held on July 26 at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, with new commissioner Rob Manfred presiding for the first time. On the day before the actual induction ceremony, the annual Hall of Fame Awards Presentation took place. At that event, two awards for media excellence were presented - the Hall's Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters and the BBWAA's J. G. Taylor Spink Award for writers. The other major Hall of Fame award, the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, was not scheduled to be presented again until 2017. Among the other portions of the ceremonies was a presentation by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus honoring the service of baseball personnel in World War II; he also announced the naming of the littoral combat ship USS Cooperstown.