Enshrinees were no-show at 1947 Hall of Fame induction

I'm sure there was a backstory behind it, and I'll probably find it if and when I get around to reading the 1947 Sporting News microfilm, but I was surprised to learn that the four players whom the baseball writers elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947 were no-shows at the induction ceremonies.

Frank Frisch, Lefty Grove, Carl Hubbell and Mickey Cochrane had been selected by the Baseball Writers Association of America, but on a hot July 21 at Cooperstown, they were nowhere to be seen.



There had been some confusion about balloting and eligibility of both players and voters in the immediately preceding years. Perhaps the 1947 electees had felt they deserved earlier selection. It was Hubbell's third year of eligibility, Grove's fourth, and the sixth try for Frisch and Cochrane.

The only new inductee on hand for the 1947 ceremonies was Ed Walsh, who had been selected the previous year by a special old-timers committee.

To register their pique at the players' snub, only 121 of the 300 eligible writers cast a Hall of Fame ballot in 1948.