Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1974 followed the system in place since 1971. The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected two, Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle. The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players. It selected three people: Jim Bottomley, Jocko Conlan, and Sam Thompson.^[1] The Negro Leagues Committee also met in person and selected Cool Papa Bell.^[2] A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on August 12, 1974, with Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn presiding.^[3]

BBWAA election

1974 inductees Mickey Mantle (left) and Whitey Ford

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1954 or later, but not after 1968; the ballot included candidates from the 1973 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 1968. 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. Results of the 1974 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 16. The ballot consisted of 42 players; a total of 365 ballots were cast, with 274 votes required for election. A total of 3,000 individual votes were cast, an average of 8.22 per ballot.

Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with dagger (†). The two 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.

Allie Reynolds was on the ballot for the final time.^[4]

Player Votes Percent Change †Mickey Mantle 322 88.2 - Whitey Ford 284 77.8 0 10.7% Robin Roberts 224 61.4 0 5.3% Ralph Kiner 215 58.9 0 2.9% Gil Hodges 198 54.2 0 3.2% Bob Lemon 190 52.1 0 5.5% Enos Slaughter 145 39.7 0 1.5% Pee Wee Reese 141 38.6 0 5.4% †Eddie Mathews 118 32.3 - Phil Rizzuto 111 30.4 0 1.2% Duke Snider 111 30.4 0 3.8% Red Schoendienst 110 30.1 0 4.8% Allie Reynolds 101 27.7 0 3.2% George Kell 94 25.8 0 4.2% Nellie Fox 79 21.6 0 2.4% †Roger Maris 78 21.4 - Hal Newhouser 73 20.0 0 0.8% Phil Cavarretta 61 16.7 0 2.5% Richie Ashburn 56 15.3 0 8.7% Alvin Dark 54 14.8 0 0.9% Johnny Sain 51 14.0 0 1.6% †Don Larsen 29 7.9 - Ted Kluszewski 28 7.7 0 4.0% Mickey Vernon 27 7.4 0 1.3% †Elston Howard 19 5.2 - Carl Erskine 11 3.0 0 1.9% Walker Cooper 9 2.5 0 0.4% Harvey Haddix 8 2.2 0 1.9% Lew Burdette 7 1.9 0 1.3% Don Newcombe 7 1.9 0 1% Bobby Thomson 6 1.6 0 0.8% Dick Groat 4 1.1 0 0.7% Roy McMillan 4 1.1 0 0.2% Billy Pierce 4 1.1 - Gil McDougald 3 0.8 0 0.3% Vic Raschi 3 0.8 0 1.0% Bobby Shantz 3 0.8 0 0.5% Curt Simmons 3 0.8 0 0.5% †Bill Virdon 3 0.8 - Smoky Burgess 2 0.5 0 0.2% †Rocky Colavito 2 0.5 - Vic Wertz 2 0.5 -

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 1975 ballot.      Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration.

The newly-eligible players included 9 All-Stars, 4 of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 75 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 20-time All-Star Mickey Mantle, 12-time All-Stars Elston Howard and Eddie Mathews, 9-time All-Star Rocky Colavito, and 7-time All-Star Roger Maris.^[5]

Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: John Buzhardt, Wayne Causey, Lenny Green, Larry Jackson, Stu Miller, Bill Monbouquette, Russ Nixon, Larry Sherry, Norm Siebern, Bobby Tiefenauer and John Tsitouris.

J. G. Taylor Spink Award

Warren Brown (1894–1978), John Drebinger (1891–1979) and John Kieran (1892–1981) received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring baseball writers.^[6][7][8] The awards were voted at the December 1973 meeting of the BBWAA, and included in the summer 1974 ceremonies.