Four Players Voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame

As many know, uSports has not always been kind to the Baseball Writers as well as the supposedly infallible Hall of Fame. But it comes with great surprise to announce that the writers have elected four players to be inducted in 2015. At first glance this may not seem like  a big deal, but this is the first time since 1955 that four athletes were given this honor; Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Ted Lyons and Dazzy Vance were a part of the 1955 class.

And on top of this, three of the four athletes were voted in on their first ballot: for those who do not know, a player needs 75 percent of the votes to get into Cooperstown. So one of the three is Randy Johnson, who received 97.3 percent of the votes: he had 303 wins, a .646 winning percentage and 4,875 strikeouts (second all time). The second first year player is the always controversial Pedro Martinez (91.1 percent): he tallied 219 wins, over 3,100 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.93 in 18 seasons. And finally, the last first timer is John Smoltz (82.9 percent): he had 213 wins, 154 saves and over 3,000 strikeouts in 21 seasons.

As for the fourth player entering Cooperstown, it is none other than Craig Biggio: in his third year on the ballot, the second baseman, who missed out last year by less than one percent, received 82.7 percent of the votes. Despite being a .281 hitter, he ranks fifth all time in doubles with 668 and won a whooping four gold gloves.

Now besides these four athletes, only three others received over 50 percent of the votes: Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines. Hopefully next year, Piazza and Bagwell will finally get in: this was Piazza’s third and Bagwell’s fifth ballot. Unfortunately, it does not appear the writers have gotten over the steroid hump: with Clemens and Bonds’ numbers only slightly improving, but still being under 40 percent.

At the same time, it is important to note that Don Mattingly after 15 years on the ballot has finally fell below ten percent, meaning he will not be eligible next year. Other important players to look for in 2016 is Curt Schilling: eighth in votes, he garnered 39.2 percent.

h/t: BBWAA