1966 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting


Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1966 followed the system introduced for even-number years in 1956.
The Baseball Writers' Association of America voted by mail to select from recent major league players with provision for a second, "runoff" election in case of no winner. Ted Williams tallied more than 90% on the first ballot. Meanwhile, the Veterans Committee was meeting annually to consider executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players. It selected Casey Stengel. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on July 25, 1966, with Commissioner of Baseball William Eckert presiding. During his acceptance speech, Williams advocated for the inclusion of Negro league baseball players, such as Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, in the Hall of Fame. Paige was inducted in 1971, and Gibson in 1972.

BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1946 or later, but not after 1960. 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. A total of 49 players received votes; 302 ballots were cast, with 227 votes required for election. A total of 2,210 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.32 per ballot.
Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a dagger. 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. Al López was later elected as a manager.
Ted Williams was elected with 93.4% of the vote. Williams won the Triple Crown twice and was the last player to hit.400 in a season. He famously used his Hall induction speech to advocate for elections of Negro League players.
Tommy Bridges was eligible for the final time.
PlayerVotesPercentChange
Ted Williams28293.4-
Red Ruffing20868.9 1.2%
Roy Campanella19765.2 8.0%
Joe Medwick18761.9 8.2%
Lou Boudreau11538.1 4.3%
Al López10936.1 7.7%
Enos Slaughter10033.1-
Pee Wee Reese9531.5 4.8%
Marty Marion8628.5 3.6%
Johnny Mize8126.8 0.1%
Ralph Kiner7424.5 9.1%
Johnny Vander Meer7223.8 1.6%
Allie Reynolds6019.9 2.5%
Bucky Walters5618.5 1.1%
Phil Rizzuto5417.9 4.5%
Arky Vaughan3611.9 3.4%
Mel Harder3411.3 14.1%
Ernie Lombardi3411.3 5.1%
Hal Newhouser3210.6 2.3%
Joe Gordon3110.3 4.6%
Bobby Doerr309.9 2.0%
George Kell299.6 6.8%
Billy Herman289.3 3.6%
Bobo Newsom258.3 0.2%
Bob Lemon217.0 4.9%
†Mickey Vernon206.6-
†Alvin Dark175.6-
Tommy Bridges165.3 2.2%
†Bobby Thomson124.0-
Phil Cavarretta93.0 7.9%
Larry Doby72.3-
†Don Newcombe72.3-
†Carl Erskine62.0-
†Jim Hegan51.7-
†Gil McDougald51.7-
†Grady Hatton41.3-
†Whitey Lockman41.3-
†Hank Sauer41.3-
†Del Ennis31.0-
†Carl Furillo20.7-
†Marv Grissom20.7-
†Andy Pafko20.7-
†Morrie Martin20.7-
†Del Rice20.7-
†Bobby Adams10.3-
†Chico Carrasquel10.3-
†Jim Hearn10.3-
†Solly Hemus10.3-
†Bob Porterfield10.3-

Elected to the Hall. These individuals are also indicated in bold italics.
Players who were elected in future elections. These individuals are also indicated in plain italics.