1998 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

The 1998 elections to select inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame followed the same system in use since 1995. The BBWAA election continued to apply a 75% rule to all eligible players, while the Veterans Committee met in closed door sessions to select from players ineligible for the BBWAA election, as well as managers and executives.

The BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1978 or later, but not after 1992; the ballot included candidates from the 1997 ballot who received at least 5% of the vote but were not elected, along with selected players, chosen by a screening committee, whose last appearance was in 1992. 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 26 players; 473 ballots were cast, with 355 votes required for election. Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote (24 votes) 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 †. 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 seven candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with a *.

This was Ron Santo's 15th and final time on the ballot.

• Don Sutton 386
• Tony Perez 321
• Ron Santo 204
• Jim Rice 203
• †Gary Carter 200
• Steve Garvey 195
• †Bruce Sutter 147
• Tommy John 129
• Jim Kaat 129
• Dave Parker 116
• Bert Blyleven 83
• Dave Concepcion 80
• Minnie Minoso 76
• Luis Tiant 62
• Keith Hernandez 51
• Dwight Evans 49
• Mickey Lolich 39
• Ron Guidry 37
• Bob Boone 26
• †Jack Clark* 7
• †Pedro Guerrero* 6
• †Willie Randolph* 5
• †Carney Lansford* 3
• †Brian Downing* 2
• †Mike Flanagan* 2
• †Rick Dempsey* 1

External links

• 1998 Election at www.baseballhalloffame.org.