Joe Dimaggio third ballot hof
 

Just curious why Joe Dimaggio was a third ballot HOF'er? With his numbers and playing ability im surprised he wasnt first

With the limited amount of votes and the large number of old timers to get in, a few superstar players of those times took longer than usual to get in.

The HOF could solve this by making the vote "yes/no" on every player rather than the stupid way they do it now. But it is what it is I guess...

Just a note about this but only four hofers were inducted without being retired a full five years like the current rules state. First was Babe Ruth who last played in 1935 but was in the inaugural class in 1937, next was Lou Gerhig who last played in early 1939 but was inducted later that year for obvious reasons, third was Joe DiMaggio who last played in 1951 but was elected in 1955 and finally was Roberto Clemente who finished the 1972 season before he was tragically killed two months later. He was inducted in 1973.

As to the question DiMaggio was the quickest to become inducted by the writers who finished a carrier and retired not due to extenuating circumstances besides Babe Ruth. The way I would look at it is he was second to only Ruth on speed of induction. Pretty big honor in my opinion.

Drew

Wouldn't Clemente be second fastest?

Clemente was the fastest, elected 79 days after his death. Gehrig retired in June and was elected in December 1939. He is excluding those two because of extenuating circumstances. Ruth retired June 1935 and was elected in 1936 would be the fastest elected in a standard election, Dimaggio was second fastest with everyone else waiting at least 5 years.

Thanks for clarifying.

Gehrig actually received 51 votes (22.6%) in 1936

- a different world