Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1979 followed the system in place since 1978. The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected Willie Mays. The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider older major league players as well as managers, umpires, executives, and figures from the Negro Leagues. It selected Warren Giles and Hack Wilson.
BBWAA election[]
The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1959 or later, but not after 1973; the ballot included candidates from the 1978 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 1973. 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 54 players; a total of 432 ballots were cast, with 324 votes required for election. 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 †. The one candidate who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. The 31 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with a *. Enos Slaughter and Bobby Thomson were on the ballot for the final time, although Thomson received less than 5% of the vote, and would have been ineligible in 1980 anyway.
| Players | Votes | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| †Willie Mays | 409 | 94.7 |
| Duke Snider | 308 | 71.3 |
| Enos Slaughter | 297 | 68.8 |
| Gil Hodges | 242 | 56.0 |
| Don Drysdale | 233 | 53.9 |
| Nellie Fox | 174 | 40.3 |
| Hoyt Wilhelm | 168 | 38.9 |
| Maury Wills | 166 | 38.4 |
| Red Schoendienst | 159 | 36.8 |
| Jim Bunning | 147 | 34.0 |
| Richie Ashburn | 130 | 30.1 |
| Roger Maris | 127 | 29.4 |
| †Luis Aparicio | 120 | 27.8 |
| Mickey Vernon | 88 | 20.4 |
| Alvin Dark | 80 | 18.5 |
| Harvey Kuenn | 63 | 14.6 |
| Ted Kluszewski | 58 | 13.4 |
| Lew Burdette | 53 | 12.3 |
| Don Larsen | 53 | 12.3 |
| Don Newcombe | 52 | 12.0 |
| Bill Mazeroski | 36 | 8.3 |
| Roy Face | 35 | 8.1 |
| Elston Howard | 30 | 6.9 |
| Ken Boyer* | 20 | 4.6 |
| Curt Flood* | 14 | 3.2 |
| Bobby Thomson* | 11 | 2.5 |
| Del Crandall* | 9 | 2.1 |
| Vern Law* | 9 | 2.1 |
| Harvey Haddix* | 8 | 1.9 |
| †Frank Howard* | 6 | 1.4 |
| †Ron Perranoski* | 6 | 1.4 |
| †Milt Pappas* | 5 | 1.2 |
| Clete Boyer* | 3 | 0.7 |
| Denny McLain* | 3 | 0.7 |
| Jim Maloney* | 2 | 0.5 |
| †Johnny Callison* | 1 | 0.2 |
| †Hal Lanier* | 1 | 0.2 |
| †Chris Short* | 1 | 0.2 |
| †Tommie Agee* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Bernie Allen* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Gene Alley* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Jim Beauchamp* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Bobby Bolin* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Ray Culp* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Eddie Fisher* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Fred Gladding* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Jerry May* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Jose Pagan* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Joe Pepitone* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Rich Reese* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Larry Stahl* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †John Stephenson* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †James Stewart* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Jeff Torborg* | 0 | 0.0 |
The newly-eligible players included 11 All-Stars, none of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 51 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 20-time All-Star Willie Mays and 10-time All-Star Luis Aparicio. The field included one MVP (Mays, who won twice), and four Rookies of the Year (Tommy Agee, Luis Aparicio, Frank Howard and Willie Mays). In addition, Willie Mays had 12 Gold Gloves at Outfield, tied for most all-time with Roberto Clemente, and Luis Aparicio had 9 Gold Gloves at Shortstop, the record at the time. No player eligible for the first time was not included on the ballot.
External links[]
{{Baseball Hall of Fame}}