Bob Feller and Jackie Robinson Elected Together

On January 23, 1962, the BBWAA elected Bob Feller and Jackie Robinson to the Hall of Fame, each in his first year of eligibility. It was the first time two players had been chosen on their inaugural ballot in the same election.

Feller led the vote with 93.8 percent. The Iowa farm boy had debuted with the Cleveland Indians at age 17 in 1936, striking out 15 batters in his first major league start. Over 18 seasons, all with Cleveland, he won 266 games and threw three no-hitters. He lost nearly four full seasons to military service in World War II, enlisting the day after Pearl Harbor, and likely would have reached 300 wins without the interruption. His fastball was measured at 98.6 miles per hour in 1946, a figure that held up against any pitcher of his generation.

Robinson earned 77.5 percent. When he stepped onto Ebbets Field as the Brooklyn Dodgers' first baseman on April 15, 1947, he became the first Black player in major league baseball in the modern era. He endured death threats, racial abuse from opponents and fans, and the pressure of knowing that the future of integration rested on his shoulders. He responded with a .311 career batting average, six All-Star selections, the 1949 NL MVP award, and a World Series championship in 1955. He stole home 19 times in his career, including once in the World Series.

Robinson had retired after the 1956 season rather than accept a trade to the Giants, and his induction five years later confirmed what everyone already knew.