2010 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2010 proceeded according to rules enacted in 2001 and revised in 2007. As always, the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted by mail to select from a ballot of recent players; one player was elected, Andre Dawson.
In keeping with the 2007 reform, one Veterans Committee convened to consider a ballot of managers and umpires, another to consider a ballot of executives. One manager and one umpire were elected: Whitey Herzog and Doug Harvey, respectively.
An induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on July 25, 2010.
A Veterans Committee election to select from older players had been held in the 2009 cycle. The next election for players whose careers began in 1943 or later was scheduled for the 2011 class of inductees while the next for pre-1943 players was scheduled for the 2014 class. However, a reform of the Veterans Committee was announced in July 2010. Henceforth, long-retired players and all non-playing personnel will be considered on a single ballot, with the ballot restricted by the "Era" in which candidates made their greatest contributions. The next Veterans Committee elections, held in December 2010 as part of the 2011 induction cycle, considered only figures from what the Hall calls the "Expansion Era", 1973 and later. Candidates from the "Golden Era" were considered in the balloting for 2012, and candidates from the "Pre-Integration Era" will be considered in the balloting for 2013. Subsequently, the same three committee meetings will occur in rotation.
BBWAA election
The BBWAA was again authorized to elect players active in 1990 or later, but not after 2004; the ballot included candidates from the 2009 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 2004. All 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to vote.Results of the 2010 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 6. The ballot consisted of 26 players, including 11 candidates returning from the 2009 ballot.
539 ballots were cast, with 405 votes required for election. A total of 3,057 individual votes were cast, an average of 5.67 per ballot. Those candidates who received 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 with a dagger. The candidate who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been selected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. The candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk.
| Player | Votes | Percent | Change | Year |
| Andre Dawson | 420 | 77.9% | 10.9% | 9th |
| Bert Blyleven | 400 | 74.2% | 11.5% | 13th |
| †Roberto Alomar | 397 | 73.7% | – | 1st |
| Jack Morris | 282 | 52.3% | 8.3% | 11th |
| †Barry Larkin | 278 | 51.6% | – | 1st |
| Lee Smith | 255 | 47.3% | 2.8% | 8th |
| †Edgar Martínez | 195 | 36.2% | – | 1st |
| Tim Raines | 164 | 30.4% | 7.8% | 3rd |
| Mark McGwire | 128 | 23.7% | 1.8% | 4th |
| Alan Trammell | 121 | 22.4% | 5.0% | 9th |
| †Fred McGriff | 116 | 21.5% | – | 1st |
| Don Mattingly | 87 | 16.1% | 4.2% | 10th |
| Dave Parker | 82 | 15.2% | 0.2% | 14th |
| Dale Murphy | 63 | 11.7% | 0.2% | 12th |
| Harold Baines | 33 | 6.1% | 0.2% | 4th |
| †Andrés Galarraga* | 22 | 4.1% | – | 1st |
| †Robin Ventura* | 7 | 1.3% | – | 1st |
| †Ellis Burks* | 2 | 0.4% | – | 1st |
| †Eric Karros* | 2 | 0.4% | – | 1st |
| †Kevin Appier* | 1 | 0.2% | – | 1st |
| †Pat Hentgen* | 1 | 0.2% | – | 1st |
| †David Segui* | 1 | 0.2% | – | 1st |
| †Mike Jackson* | 0 | 0.0% | – | 1st |
| †Ray Lankford* | 0 | 0.0% | – | 1st |
| †Shane Reynolds* | 0 | 0.0% | – | 1st |
| †Todd Zeile* | 0 | 0.0% | – | 1st |
The newly-eligible candidates included 11 All-Stars, who were selected a combined total of 51 times - a notable decrease from 2009, when 22 All-Stars became eligible. Among the first-ballot candidates were 12-time All-Stars Roberto Alomar and Barry Larkin, 7-time All-Star Edgar Martínez, and 5-time All-Stars Andrés Galarraga and Fred McGriff. With respect to major end-of-season awards, the new field contained one Cy Young Award winner, one MVP and one Rookie of the Year. Alomar won ten Gold Gloves at second base. Robin Ventura received six at third base. Larkin holds the record for most Silver Slugger Awards by a shortstop. Edgar Martínez is tied for the record for most Outstanding Designated Hitter Awards at five.
Players who were eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Paul Abbott, Andy Ashby, Danny Bautista, Darren Bragg, Brian Boehringer, Dave Burba, Greg Colbrunn, Mike Fetters, Brook Fordyce, Karim García, Tom Goodwin, Ricky Gutiérrez, Jimmy Haynes, Sterling Hitchcock, Curt Leskanic, Josías Manzanillo, Brent Mayne, Mark McLemore, Scott Service, Chris Stynes, Scott Sullivan, Todd Van Poppel, John Vander Wal, Fernando Viña, and Turk Wendell.
For the first time in the history of BBWAA voting, two players fell shy of election by fewer than 10 votes. Blyleven, on the ballot for the 13th time, fell 5 votes shy; he gained 62 votes from his 2009 total. Alomar fell 8 votes short in his first appearance on the ballot, and received the highest percentage ever for a first-time candidate who was not elected at that time. Both would be elected in.
Veterans Committee elections
The Veterans Committee election process was revised in July 2007. With the 2007 rules changes, the composite ballot was split into two separate ballots—one for managers and umpires and the other for executives. Also, the voting membership of the Committee, which previously included all living members of the Hall, was reduced to include just a handful of those members, plus additional executives and sportswriters. Voting for both the managers/umpires and executives ballots, which now takes place prior to inductions in even-numbered years, began with the 2008 class of inductees, when two managers and three executives were elected. To be eligible, managers and umpires must be retired for at least five years, or for at least six months if they are age 65 or older, while executives must be either retired or at least age 65.A Historical Overview Committee of sportswriters appointed by the BBWAA's Board of Directors met to develop a ballot of 10 managers and umpires. The managers/umpires list was then submitted to a panel composed of Hall of Fame members, executives and veteran media members for a final vote. A separate ballot of 10 executives was developed by a panel including executives, players and writers, which was the same committee which finally voted in that area. The final ballots were released in November 2009. Each panel member was allowed to vote for up to four individuals on each ballot, and each candidate who received 75% of the vote from either panel was elected; therefore, a maximum of five inductions were possible from each ballot. Voting was conducted at baseball's winter meetings in Indianapolis on December 6, 2009, with the results announced the next day; as was the case with the 2008 class of inductees, the Committee met to discuss the candidates, although the previous three elections had been conducted by mail.
Managers/umpires ballot
The ballot for managers and umpires included eight managers and two umpires, with 12 votes required for election. Candidates who received at least 75% of the vote were elected. Those that were inducted are indicated in bold italics.In contrast with the 2008 election, voters made less of an effort to vote for as many candidates as they were allowed. While at least 58 of the permitted 64 individual votes were cast in 2008, the number of known individual votes cast in this election was 48 of the possible 64. Seven of the candidates had been on the preceding ballot in 2008, with Grimm, Kelly, and O'Neill appearing for the first time and umpire Cy Rigler dropping off the ballot. Four candidates were living when the final results were announced—Harvey, Herzog, Johnson, and Kelly. The election committee, which was announced on the same day as the ballot, included:
Of the ten candidates for election, Doug Harvey and Whitey Herzog received the 75% needed to garner induction. Executives ballotOn the executives ballot, 9 votes were required for election; no candidates were elected.
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