The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1956 or later, but not after 1970; the ballot included candidates from the 1975 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 1970. 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 32 players; a total of 388 ballots were cast, with 291 votes required for election. A total of 2,937 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.57 per ballot.
Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a dagger (†). The two candidates 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.
Phil Rizzuto was on the ballot for the final time.
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 1977 ballot.
Eliminated from future BBWAA voting. These individuals remain eligible for future Veterans Committee consideration.
The newly-eligible players included 9 All-Stars, 7 of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 28 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 8-time All-Star Del Crandall and 6-time All-Star John Roseboro. The field included one Rookie of the Year (Bob Allison).
Tom Meany (1903–1964) and Shirley Povich (1905–1998) received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award honoring baseball writers.[2][3] The awards were voted at the December 1975 meeting of the BBWAA, and included in the summer 1976 ceremonies.