Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2001 followed the system in use since 1995. The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected two: Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield. The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions and selected two people from multiple classified ballots: Bill Mazeroski and Hilton Smith. Induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York, were held August 5 with Commissioner Bud Selig presiding. The BBWAA election The BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1981 or later, but not after 1995; the ballot included candidates from the 2000 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 1995. 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. Results of the 2001 election by the BBWAA were announced on January 16, 2001. The ballot consisted of 32 players; 515 ballots were cast, with 387 votes required for election. A total of 3258 individual votes were cast, an average of 6.33 per ballot. Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote (25 votes) would not appear on future BBWAA ballots, and under then-current rules were also eliminated from future consideration by the Veterans Committee. A change in Hall policy later in 2001 restored the eligibility of players dropped from BBWAA balloting for Veterans Committee consideration. Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated with a dagger (†). The two candidates who received at least 75% of the vote and were elected are indicated in bold italics; candidates who have since been selected in subsequent elections are indicated in italics. The 13 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with an asterisk (*). José Rijo, who received only one vote, resumed his major league career in 2001-2002; he again became eligible on the 2008 ballot. Both selections, Kirby Puckett of the Minnesota Twins and Dave Winfield of the New York Yankees, were late-1980s/early-1990s star hitters. Puckett is best known for leading the Twins to the World Championship before being forced to retire due to glaucoma. The