wheat was first voted into the baseball hall of fame by the veterans committee in , but could not be inducted because he had not been retired for the required 30 years. in , the committee unanimously elected him. in 1981, lawrence ritter and donald honig included him in their book "the 100 greatest baseball players of all time". in 2006, the stretch of route 13 that runs through caldwell county, missouri was named the "zach wheat memorial highway". due to his cherokee ancestry, wheat was featured in "baseball's league of nations: a tribute to native americans in baseball", a 2008 exhibit at the iroquois indian museum in howes cave, n.y.