How Baseball Digest readers voted for Hall of Fame candidates.

IN THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF BASEBALL DIGEST, WE ASKED READERS TO FILL OUT A BALLOT LISTING THEIR TOP ten choices of former players--eligible for the Halt of Fame--to be elected to the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. The poll generated 1,127 responses from 47 of the 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, United Kingdom and the Virgin Islands.

There were 259 different players who received votes, including four members already inducted into the Hall of Fame (George Davis, Leo Durocher, Nellie Fox, Tony Perez), six players not yet eligible for election (Jose Canseco, Wade Boggs, Harold Baines, Roger Clemens, Tony Gwynn, Gal Ripken), nine individuals whose careers were mostly spent in the Negro Leagues and Sadarahu Oh, the lone vote-getter from the Japanese League.

Among former major leaguers, pitcher Bert Blyleven tallied the most votes with 659 followed by Ryne Sandberg (503 votes), Ron Santo (455 votes), Eddie Murray (447 votes) and Gary Carter (399 votes).

In the last five elections (1998-2002), Blyleven has never finished higher than ninth among eligible candidates. Last year, he gained his strongest support from the Baseball Writers Association of America when he totaled 124 votes from 473 members (26 percent), far from the 75 percent of the vote needed for election.

Sandberg and Murray appear on the ballot for the first time in 2003. Carter has finished among the top six vote-getters in each of the last five years, including a second-place finish in 2002 behind Ozzie Smith. Carter garnered 73 percent of the vote (343 total votes from 473) just falling short of entrance. Santo once again becomes a candidate under the new voting system after being dropped off the Writers ballot in 1999 when he didn't gain enough votes for entrance during his 15 years on the ballot.

Listed on the following page are the results from readers who voted for players they would like to see join the ranks of Hall of Fame members.

 
Hall of Fame 
Voting Results 
 
Bert Blyleven        659 
Ryne Sandberg        503 
Ron Santo            455 
Eddie Murray         447 
Gary Carter          399 
Gil Hodges           373 
Andre Dawson         342 
Jim Kaat             312 
Jim Rice             298 
Roger Maris          280 
Tommy John           255 
Don Mattingly        235 
Ted Simmons          234 
Pete Rose            213 
Lee Smith            205 
Maury Wills          202 
Tony Oliva           168 
Alan Trammell        164 
Richard Gossage      160 
Sieve Garvey         157 
Jack Morris          149 
Dale Murphy          139 
Joe Torre            136 
Luis Tiant           135 
Thurman Munson       129 
Bruce Sutter         119 
Joe Jackson          113 
Ken Boyer            112 
Billy Pierce         110 
Vada Pinson          104 
Minnie Minoso        101 
Dave Concepcion       91 
Graig Nettles         88 
Dom DiMaggio          84 
Ron Guidry            83 
Keith Hernandez       81 
Lefty O'Doul          75 
Lou Whitaker          75 
Joe Gordon            71 
Rocky Colavito        68 
Allie Reynolds        67 
Curt Flood            65 
Dwight Evans          59 
Bill Madlock          59 
Don Newcombe          58 
Al Rosen              58 
Marry Marion          56 
Stan Hack             53 
Ted Kluszewski        52 
Dave Parker           49 
Mickey Vernon         49 
Dan Quisenberry       48 
Bob Boone             44 
Fred Lynn             44 
Vern Stephens         44 
Rusty Staub           42 
Lew Burdette          41 
Bill Buckner          40 
Elston Howard         40 
Dick Allen            39 
Willie Randolph       38 
Mickey Lolich         36 
Al Oliver             36 
Bobby Bonds           34 
Wes Ferrell           33 
Carl Furillo          33 
Dave Stewart          33 
Joe Wood              32 
Larry Bowa            31 
JohnnyVanderMeer      31 
Kirk Gibson           30 
Dave Kingman          30 
Pepper Martin         30 
Carl Mays             30 
Johnny Sain           29 
Pete Browning         28 
Darrell Evans         28 
Bill Freehan          28 
Mel Harder            28 
Vida Blue             27 
Frank Howard          26 
Jim Hegan             23 
Sal Maglie            23 
Tony Mullane          23 
Ron Cey               22 
Del Ennis             22 
George Foster         21 
Bob Johnson           21 
Bobby Grich           20 
Dick Groat            20 
Ken Williams          20 
Buddy Bell            19 
Ken Griffey, Sr.      19 
George Van Haltren    18 
Frank Crosetti        17 
Bob Meusel            17 
Vic Raschi            17 
Cecil ...