1946-55
Voters took a tougher approach after the first few classes. In four of the 10 years in this window, voters failed to elect anyone, and in 1946 the 263 voters adopted the most curmudgeonly approach in HOF history. Not only did they fail to elect anyone, but the average ballot contained just 5.01 names, an all-time low.
Here’s a simple way to illustrate how strict a line voters hewed during this period: In 1955, they elected Joe DiMaggio with 88.8 percent of the vote in his fourth year on the ballot. DiMaggio had been denied entry in 1945 (0.4 percent), and again in 1953 (44.3 percent) and 1954 (69.4 percent). That’s a tough crowd.
"One of few players to jump from a high school team into the majors."Mel Ott's Hall of Fame plaque
Objectively, the decade’s most distinguished class was probably in 1951. The two winners were Mel Ott and Jimmie Foxx. Ott, who hit 511 home runs in an era when that meant something, was named on 87.2 percent of ballots. Foxx, who hit 58 homes in 1932 and 534 for his 20-season career, was named on 79.4 percent of ballots.
1946-55 personal favorite: In 1946, Hall voters — who had enshrined only Rogers Hornsby since 1940 — again voted nobody in. But that didn’t stop an Old Timers Committee. That group of former players and executives enshrined 11 of their contemporaries, an all-time record. Among the honorees: Ed Walsh, Jack Chesbro, Jesse Burkett and Rube Waddell.