Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1980 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 Al Kaline and Duke Snider. 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 Chuck Klein and Tom Yawkey.
BBWAA election[]
The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1960 or later, but not after 1974; the ballot included candidates from the 1979 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 1974. 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 61 players; a total of 385 ballots were cast, with 289 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 two candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and were elected is indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. The 38 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with a *. Mickey Vernon, Don Newcombe and Alvin Dark were on the ballot for the 15th and final time.
| Player | Votes | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| †Al Kaline | 340 | 88.3 |
| Duke Snider | 333 | 86.5 |
| Don Drysdale | 238 | 61.8 |
| Gil Hodges | 230 | 59.7 |
| Hoyt Wilhelm | 209 | 54.3 |
| Jim Bunning | 177 | 46.0 |
| Red Schoendienst | 164 | 42.6 |
| Nellie Fox | 161 | 41.8 |
| Maury Wills | 146 | 37.9 |
| Richie Ashburn | 134 | 34.8 |
| Luis Aparicio | 124 | 32.2 |
| Roger Maris | 111 | 28.8 |
| Mickey Vernon | 96 | 24.9 |
| Harvey Kuenn | 83 | 21.6 |
| Lew Burdette | 66 | 17.1 |
| Don Newcombe | 59 | 15.3 |
| Ted Kluszewski | 50 | 13.0 |
| †Orlando Cepeda | 48 | 12.5 |
| Alvin Dark | 43 | 11.2 |
| Bill Mazeroski | 33 | 8.6 |
| Don Larsen | 31 | 8.1 |
| Elston Howard | 29 | 7.5 |
| Roy Face | 21 | 5.5 |
| †Ron Santo* | 15 | 3.9 |
| †Norm Cash* | 6 | 1.6 |
| †Matty Alou* | 5 | 1.3 |
| †Felipe Alou* | 3 | 0.8 |
| †Mel Stottlemyre, Sr.* | 3 | 0.8 |
| †Steve Blass* | 2 | 0.5 |
| †Jim Hickman* | 1 | 0.3 |
| †Sonny Jackson* | 1 | 0.3 |
| †Don McMahon* | 1 | 0.3 |
| †Jack Aker* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Steve Barber* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Bob Barton* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †John Boccabella* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Larry Brown* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Chris Cannizarro* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Paul Casanova* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Horace Clarke* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Johnny Edwards* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Phil Gagliano* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Jim Gosger* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Jim Ray Hart* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Ron Hunt* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †John Kennedy* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Andy Kosco* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Lew Krausse Jr.* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Frank Linzy* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Denis Menke* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Bob Miller* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Norm Miller* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Ivan Murrell* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Juan Pizarro* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Rick Reichardt* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Pete Richert* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Mike Ryan* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Paul Schaal* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Dick Selma* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Duke Sims* | 0 | 0.0 |
| †Bob Veale* | 0 | 0.0 |
The newly-eligible players included 20 All-Stars, none of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 66 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 15-time All-Star Al Kaline, 9-time All-Star Ron Santo, 7-time All-Star Orlando Cepeda and 5-time All-Star Mel Stottlemyre, Sr. The field included one MVP (Cepeda), and one Rookie of the Year (Cepeda). Player eligible for the first time who was not included on the ballot was: Dick Green.
External links[]
{{Baseball Hall of Fame}}