Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1994 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 Steve Carlton. 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 two, Leo Durocher and Phil Rizzuto. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on July 31, 1994.^[1]

BBWAA election

The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1974 or later, but not after 1988; the ballot included candidates from the 1993 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 1988. 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 38 players; a total of 456 ballots were cast, with 342 votes required for election. A total of 2,884 individual votes were cast, an average of 6.32 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 one candidate who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been elected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. The 14 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk (*).

Orlando Cepeda and Ken Boyer were on the ballot for the 15th and final time.

Player Votes Percent Change Year †Steve Carlton 436 95.6 - 1st Orlando Cepeda 335 73.5 0 13.9% 15th Phil Niekro 273 59.9 0 5.8% 2nd Tony Pérez 263 57.7 0 2.6% 3rd †Don Sutton 259 56.8 - 1st Steve Garvey 166 36.4 0 5.2% 2nd Tony Oliva 158 34.6 0 2.5% 13th Ron Santo 150 32.9 0 3.7% 11th †Bruce Sutter 109 23.9 - 1st Jim Kaat 98 21.5 0 8.1% 6th Dick Allen 66 14.5 0 2.0% 12th Ken Boyer 54 11.8 0 4.5% 15th Joe Torre 53 11.6 0 3.3% 12th Vada Pinson 46 10.1 0 1.1% 13th Minnie Miñoso 45 9.9 0 5.9% 10th Luis Tiant 42 9.2 0 5.5% 7th Curt Flood 39 8.6 0 0.1% 13th †Graig Nettles 38 8.3 - 1st Bobby Bonds 37 8.1 0 2.5% 8th Rusty Staub 36 7.9 0 0.3% 4th †Dave Concepción 31 6.8 - 1st Thurman Munson 31 6.8 0 2.7% 14th †Ron Guidry 24 5.3 - 1st Mickey Lolich 23 5.0 0 5.2% 10th †Ted Simmons* 17 3.7 - 1st George Foster 16 3.5 0 3.4% 3rd Vida Blue 14 3.1 0 5.6% 3rd †Don Baylor 12 2.6 - 1st †Joe Niekro* 6 1.3 - 1st †José Cruz* 2 0.4 - 1st †Phil Garner* 2 0.4 - 1st †Larry Parrish* 2 0.4 - 1st †Ray Knight* 1 0.2 - 1st †Chris Chambliss* 0 0.0 - 1st †George Hendrick* 0 0.0 - 1st †Bob Horner* 0 0.0 - 1st †Scott McGregor* 0 0.0 - 1st †Mario Soto* 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 1995 ballot.      Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration. Note that Ted Simmons was eliminated from BBWAA voting but was selected in the 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting by the Modern Baseball Veterans Committee in December 2019. Veterans Committee selections Leo Durocher (left) and Phil Rizzuto

The newly eligible players included 26 All-Stars, eight of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 86 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 10-time All-Star Steve Carlton, 9-time All-Star Dave Concepción, 8-time All-Star Ted Simmons, and 6-time All-Stars Graig Nettles and Bruce Sutter. The field included MVP (Don Baylor), three Cy Young Award winners (Sutter, Ron Guidry, and Carlton, who won four times), and two Rookies of the Year (Chris Chambliss and Bob Horner).

Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Bill Almon, Joaquín Andújar, Juan Beníquez, Ron Davis, Iván DeJesús, Gene Garber, Steve Henderson, Larry Herndon, Steve Kemp, Tippy Martinez, Donnie Moore, Jim Morrison, Jerry Mumphrey, Gary Roenicke, Jerry Royster, Lary Sorensen, Willie Upshaw, and Butch Wynegar.

J. G. Taylor Spink Award

Wendell Smith (1914–1972) received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring a baseball writer.^[2] The award was voted at the December 1993 meeting of the BBWAA, and included in the summer 1994 ceremonies.