 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2019) |
| New inductees | 8 |
|---|---|
| via BBWAA | 2 |
| via Veterans Committee | 6 |
| Total inductees | 70 |
| Induction date | July 27, 1953 |
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1953 followed a radically new procedure. The institution appointed its Committee on Baseball Veterans, the famous "Veterans Committee", to meet in person and consider pioneers and executives, managers, umpires, and earlier major league players. Committees in the 1930s and 1940s had chosen several pioneers and executives, but this was the first direction of anyone's attention to field personnel other than players, the managers and umpires.
The first Veterans Committee met in closed sessions and elected six people: Ed Barrow, Chief Bender, Tommy Connolly, Bill Klem, Bobby Wallace, and Harry Wright. The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail, per usual, to select from recent players and elected two, Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on July 27, 1953, with Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick in attendance.[1]
- ^ "Dean and Simmons Inducted Into Hall of Fame". The Daily Oklahoman. Oklahoma City. AP. July 28, 1953. p. 31. Retrieved October 13, 2019 – via newspapers.com.