The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1964 or later, but not after 1978; the ballot included candidates from the 1983 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 1978. 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 29 players; a total of 403 ballots were cast, with 303 votes required for election. A total of 2,905 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.21 per ballot. 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 dagger (†). The candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and were elected are indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been elected 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 (*).
Key to colors
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.
Players not yet elected who returned on the 1985 ballot.
Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration.
The newly-eligible players included 12 All-Stars, five of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 25 All-Star selections. Jim Fregosi, who was selected to the All Star Game six times, was the only newly eligible player selected at least five times.
Ken Smith (1902–1991) received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring a baseball writer.[2] The award was voted at the December 1983 meeting of the BBWAA, and included in the summer 1984 ceremonies.
