Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1986 followed the system in place since 1978. The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected Willie McCovey. The Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider older major league players as well as managers, umpires, executives, and figures from the Negro leagues. It selected two players, Bobby Doerr and Ernie Lombardi. A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on August 3, 1986, with Commissioner of Baseball Peter Ueberroth, and former Commissioners Bowie Kuhn and Happy Chandler, in attendance.