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Posted by
SMAZ
on Thu Jan 19 09:33:56 2017
Hall of Fame Welcomes Tim Raines, Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez
By TYLER KEPNER - New York Times
The Baseball Hall of Fame announced three new members on Wednesday, welcoming Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez in an election that also included significant gains for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
Bagwell, a slugging first baseman for the Houston Astros, was elected on his seventh try, while Raines, a star leadoff hitter for the Montreal Expos in the 1980s, was elected on his 10th. Rodriguez, who played mostly for the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers, became the second catcher to be elected on his first ballot, after Johnny Bench.
“Last night was probably the worst night I’ve had in the 10 years,” said Raines, who had reached his final year of eligibility. “I knew I was close, but I wasn’t sure. Everything is out of your control. You have to wait.”
Raines’s wait ended with 380 of 442 votes from 10-year members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. That translated to 86 percent, well above the 75 percent threshold needed for election. Bagwell had one more vote than Raines, for 86.2 percent, and Rodriguez just made it, with 76 percent. Candidates needed 332 votes this year, and Rodriguez got 336.
The former closer Trevor Hoffman, a second-year candidate, finished right behind Rodriguez — but just shy of glory — with 327 votes, for 74 percent. Vladimir Guerrero, a former outfielder making his debut on the ballot, had 317 votes, for 71.7 percent.
Clemens (54.1 percent) and Bonds (53.8), whose candidacies have been clouded by ties to performance-enhancing drugs, were named on a majority of ballots for the first time in their five years of eligibility. As headliners of an era now being judged for posterity, their omission seemed glaring.
“Just my honest opinion: Barry Bonds is the best player I’ve ever played against in my entire life,” said Bagwell, who then called Clemens one of the best pitchers ever. “They were just awesome — their demeanor, the way they went about their business, was just amazing. I respect them, and I’m a fan.”
Bagwell won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1994 and later guided the Astros to six playoff appearances, including their only N.L. pennant, in 2005, his final season. He hit .297 with a .408 on-base percentage, a .540 slugging percentage and 449 home runs in his career, and twice he stole at least 30 bases in a season.
Bagwell’s prime came in the era before steroid testing with penalties — which began in 2004 — and placed him in the same category, for some voters, as the former Mets catcher Mike Piazza, who was elected last year on his fourth try. Neither player has been formally linked to banned drugs, but some skeptical voters delayed supporting their candidacy.
Still, the swift election of Rodriguez — who was named as a steroid user in a book by his former teammate Jose Canseco, who said he had injected Rodriguez and others — will most likely help the cases of Bonds and Clemens, who have both been connected to performance-enhancing drug use.
Bonds, the career home run leader, and Clemens, the career leader in Cy Young Awards, both polled at about 36 percent in each of their first three seasons on the ballot. Support for them jumped to the mid-40s last year, and they took another leap this time. As younger writers join the voting ranks and older writers depart, the outlook will most likely improve for both players, who have five more chances to be elected by the writers.
In data collected by Ryan Thibodaux, who tracks Hall of Fame ballots, Bonds and Clemens were picked by 13 of 14 first-time voters who made their ballots public before the announcement. That was the same total earned from that group by Rodriguez, who was similarly dominant at his position.
Rodriguez made 14 All-Star teams and won 13 Gold Gloves while setting the career record for games caught, with 2,437. The American League M.V.P. for Texas in 1999, he also won a championship with the Marlins in 2003 and becomes the first Hall of Famer since Al Kaline, who retired in 1974, to have played even one game for the Tigers.
The Tigers, who had staggered to 119 losses the year before Rodriguez arrived, made the World Series in his third season with the team.
“The history, the organization, the city, the ballpark, the uniform that I wore for five years — I feel very, very honored to wear that English D,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also becomes the fourth player from Puerto Rico in the Hall of Fame, joining Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda and Roberto Alomar. But he said Bench was his role model growing up.
“I can’t wait till I see him on the same stage with me when I’m doing my speech,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a dream come true, having my favorite player right there close to me.”
Raines’s case illustrates the way players can gather momentum with voters over time. After his prime with Montreal and the Chicago White Sox, Raines bounced to five teams in his final six seasons. He helped the Yankees win two championships, in 1996 and 1998, but he left the game as a role player, and he made his debut on the ballot in 2008 with support from just 24.3 percent of the voters.
Recently, though, voters came to appreciate a portfolio that included a batting title, 808 stolen bases (fifth on the career list) and a .385 on-base percentage, with extra-base pop — from both sides of the plate — rarely found in a leadoff hitter.
“Back in the day, when you looked at the Hall of Fame, you looked at 500 home runs, 300 wins and 3,000 hits,” said Raines, who had 2,605 hits but reached base more times than four members of the 3,000-hit club.
“And a lot of times, if you didn’t reach those criteria, it was kind of hard for anyone to look at you as a Hall of Famer,” he continued. “But the way the game has changed today, the way they look at the stats, it has changed a lot of people’s minds.”
Bagwell, Raines and Rodriguez will join the former commissioner Bud Selig and the longtime executive John Schuerholz in Cooperstown, N.Y., for the induction ceremonies on July 30. Selig and Schuerholz were elected by the veterans’ committee in December.
Others who made gains in this election included Edgar Martinez, a former Seattle Mariners designated hitter who was backed by 58.6 percent of the voters, up from 43.4 last year, and Mike Mussina, who had 270 wins for the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles and jumped to 51.8 percent, from 43.
One candidate, Curt Schilling, went the other way. Schilling is the only pitcher in major league history with at least 3,000 strikeouts and fewer than 750 walks, and he starred in October for three teams. But his support fell to 45 percent, from 52.3 last year, after he offended many writers with a post on Twitter that joked about lynching journalists.
All the players who received at least 5 percent of the vote this time will remain on the ballot except for Lee Smith, a former closer whose eligibility has expired. Jorge Posada, the standout catcher for the Yankees’ recent title teams, was eliminated after receiving just 3.8 percent of the vote in his first appearance on the ballot.
Newcomers on the next ballot, to be considered in December 2017, include Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel, Scott Rolen, Andruw Jones, Johnny Damon and Jamie Moyer.
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