Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1989 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 two, Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski. 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 also selected two people, Al Barlick and Red Schoendienst. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on July 23, 1989.^[1]

BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1969 or later, but not after 1983; the ballot included candidates from the 1988 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 1983. 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 41 players; a total of 447 ballots were cast, with 336 votes required for election. A total of 3,016 individual votes were cast, an average of 6.75 per ballot. Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote would not appear on future BBWAA ballots, but could eventually be considered by the Veterans Committee.

Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a 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. The 20 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 †Johnny Bench 431 96.4 - 1st †Carl Yastrzemski 423 94.6 - 1st †Gaylord Perry 304 68.0 - 1st Jim Bunning 283 63.3 0 10.9% 13th †Fergie Jenkins 234 52.3 - 1st Orlando Cepeda 176 39.4 0 7.2% 10th Tony Oliva 135 30.2 0 17.1% 8th Bill Mazeroski 134 30.0 0 3.5% 12th Harvey Kuenn 115 25.7 0 13.6% 13th Maury Wills 95 21.3 0 8.4% 12th †Jim Kaat 87 19.5 - 1st Ron Santo 75 16.8 0 8.5% 6th Ken Boyer 62 13.9 0 11.6% 10th Minnie Miñoso 59 13.2 0 7.9% 5th Roy Face 47 10.5 0 8.0% 14th Mickey Lolich 47 10.5 0 15.0% 5th Luis Tiant 47 10.5 0 20.4% 2nd Joe Torre 40 8.9 0 5.2% 7th Dick Allen 35 7.8 0 4.4% 7th Vada Pinson 33 7.4 0 8.3% 8th Thurman Munson 31 6.9 0 0.6% 9th Bobby Bonds 29 6.5 0 0.2% 3rd Curt Flood 27 6.0 0 5.2% 8th Sparky Lyle 25 5.6 0 7.5% 2nd †Bert Campaneris* 14 3.1 - 1st Wilbur Wood* 14 3.1 0 3.9% 6th Manny Mota* 9 2.0 0 2.2% 2nd †Bobby Murcer* 3 0.7 - 1st †Don Money* 1 0.2 - 1st †Gene Tenace* 1 0.2 - 1st †Jim Barr* 0 0.0 - 1st †Terry Crowley* 0 0.0 - 1st †Joe Ferguson* 0 0.0 - 1st †Woodie Fryman* 0 0.0 - 1st †César Gerónimo* 0 0.0 - 1st †Dave Goltz* 0 0.0 - 1st †Jon Matlack* 0 0.0 - 1st †Rudy May* 0 0.0 - 1st †Bake McBride* 0 0.0 - 1st †Bill Robinson* 0 0.0 - 1st †Richie Zisk* 0 0.0 - 1st

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 1990 ballot.      Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration. 1989 Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Johnny Bench Carl Yastrzemski Red Schoendienst Al Barlick Top row: Johnny Bench (left) and Carl Yastrzemski. Bottom row: Red Schoendienst (left) and Al Barlick

The newly eligible players included 16 All-Stars, three of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 71 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 18-time All-Star Carl Yastrzemski, 14-time All-Star Johnny Bench, 6-time All-Star Bert Campaneris and 5-time All-Stars Bobby Murcer and Gaylord Perry. The field included two Most Valuable Players (Bench, who won twice, and Yastrzemski), two Cy Young Award-winners (Ferguson Jenkins and Gaylord Perry, who won twice) and three Rookies of the Year (Bench, John Matlack and Bake McBride). The field also included some prominent Gold Glove winners: Jim Kaat, whose 16 at pitcher was the record until broken by Greg Maddux; Johnny Bench, whose 10 at catcher was the record until broken by Iván Rodríguez; and Carl Yastrzemski, who won seven as an outfielder.

Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Larry Biittner, Doug Bird, Tim Blackwell, Bill Castro, Larry Christenson, Bill Fahey, Ed Farmer, Don Hood, Mike Ivie, Dave LaRoche, Randy Moffitt, Jerry Morales, Rowland Office, Mike Phillips, Steve Renko, Aurelio Rodríguez, Elías Sosa, Jerry Turner and Otto Vélez.

J. G. Taylor Spink Award

Bob Hunter (1913–1993) and Ray Kelly (1914–1988) received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring baseball writers.^[2][3] The awards were voted at the December 1988 meeting of the BBWAA, and included in the summer 1989 ceremonies.