As in the past, the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from a ballot of recently retired players, with results announced on January 8, 2014.

[1] The Expansion Era Committee, one of three voting panels that replaced the more broadly defined Veterans Committee following the July 2010 rules change, convened early in December 2013 to select from a ballot of retired players and non-playing personnel who made their greatest contributions to the sport after 1972, a time frame that the Hall of Fame calls the "Expansion Era".

The field included 1995 NL Rookie of the Year Hideo Nomo, two MVPs (Kent and Thomas), three Cy Young Award winners (Glavine, Maddux and Éric Gagné).

[10][11] ESPN.com columnist Jim Caple noted in the days before the announcement of the 2012 results that the PED issue and the BBWAA's limit of 10 votes per ballot was likely to result in a major backlog in upcoming elections:[11]Due to the steroid issue and a general lack of consensus, the following players will probably be on the ballot in three years: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Sammy Sosa, Jeff Bagwell, John Smoltz, Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Mike Mussina, Jeff Kent, Larry Walker, Alan Trammell, Fred McGriff, Rafael Palmeiro, Lee Smith, Tim Raines, Gary Sheffield, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling and, of course, Bernie [Williams].

Finding room for Bonds, Clemens, Pedro, Johnson and others means I'll have to dump more good players from my ballot than the Marlins dumped after winning the 1997 World Series.Several other players returning from the 2013 ballot with otherwise-strong Hall credentials have been linked to PEDs, among them Mark McGwire (who admitted to long-term steroid use in 2010),[12] Jeff Bagwell (who never tested positive, but was the subject of PED rumors during his career),[13] and Rafael Palmeiro (who tested positive for stanozolol shortly after denying that he had ever used steroids).

[14] Players who were eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Tony Armas Jr., Gary Bennett, Joe Borowski, Jose Cruz Jr., Mike DiFelice, Damion Easley, Scott Elarton, Shawn Estes, Sal Fasano, Keith Foulke, Scott Hatteberg, Geoff Jenkins, Jason Johnson, Ray King, Jon Lieber, Esteban Loaiza, Kent Mercker, Matt Morris, Trot Nixon, Abraham Nunez, Odalis Perez, Tomas Perez, Mark Redman, Alberto Reyes, Ricardo Rincon, Dave Roberts, Rudy Seanez, Shannon Stewart, Tanyon Sturtze, Mark Sweeney, Salomon Torres, Steve Trachsel, Javier Valentin, Jose Vidro, Daryle Ward, and Dmitri Young.

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com noted about this election,It wasn't exactly a perfect day for any of us who care about this process, because it sledgehammered home this painful reminder of the enduring Hall of Fame crisis of the 21st century: We still have no idea how to resolve the fate of many of the greatest players of all time.

[16] Jonah Keri, writing for the ESPN outlet Grantland, remarked,Short of dropping the required share of the vote well below 75 percent, I think there's a good chance that the voters' failure to elect candidates who not only match but raise the bar on existing inductees has put us in an intractable position.

Along with the post-1972 era, these criteria defined the consideration set:[3] The eleven BBWAA-appointed Historical Overview Committee members were Dave Van Dyck (Chicago Tribune); Bob Elliott (Toronto Sun); Steve Hirdt (Elias Sports Bureau); Rick Hummel (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); Bill Madden (New York Daily News); Ken Nigro (formerly The Baltimore Sun); Jack O'Connell (BBWAA secretary/treasurer); Tracy Ringolsby (Fox Sports Rocky Mountain/MLB.com); Glenn Schwarz (formerly San Francisco Chronicle); Claire Smith (ESPN); and Mark Whicker (Orange County Register).

[1] The ballot for election by the Expansion Era Committee was released on November 4, 2013,[1] and the Hall of Fame announced the results on December 9.

[19] The Expansion Era Committee's 16-member voting electorate, appointed by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors, was announced at the same time as the ballot of 12 candidates.

Players eligible for the first time who were not named on the ballot include Bob Boone, Bill Buckner, Dwight Evans, Keith Hernandez, Fred Lynn, Dale Murphy, Willie Randolph and Frank White.

Reilly was especially critical of La Russa's election, claiming he "did more for juicers than Jack LaLanne",[20] and added (emphasis in original):In all, the three managers being inducted oversaw at least 34 players who've been implicated as PED users and never noticed a thing wrong.

Angell, who was 93 at the time of announcement, is the first Spink Award recipient to have never been a member of the BBWAA; according to the Hall, the group "limits its membership to writers covering Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, wire services and some Internet outlets."

However, the award is not restricted to BBWAA members, and Angell was nominated by the group's San Francisco Bay Area chapter.

Angell has written about baseball for The New Yorker for over 50 years, and many of his essays for the magazine have been reprinted in several best-selling books spanning four decades.

[26] Beginning with this year's election, the selection process underwent major changes similar to those instituted for Veterans Committee balloting in 2010.

Candidates are now considered every third year, based on the era in which they made their most significant contributions:[27] Also, the committee that selects the final recipient no longer has a role in determining any of the finalists.

The award was created in 2008 in honor of Buck O'Neil, a Negro leagues star who went on to become one of baseball's leading ambassadors until his death in 2006.

According to the Hall,The Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award is presented by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors not more than once every three years to honor an individual whose extraordinary efforts enhanced baseball's positive impact on society, broadened the game's appeal, and whose character, integrity and dignity are comparable to the qualities exhibited by O'Neil.