COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- On a Sunday when the sun played nip and tuck with the clouds and rain showers were in the forecast, the Class of 2015 was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame behind the Clark Sports Center.The class was dominated by three of the greatest pitchers of their era, plus a versatile position player who ended his 20-year career, all with Houston, with 3,060 hits -- Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio.
The inductees gave their respective speeches before a sea of humanity. 
Hall officials had estimated a crowd of close to 50,000, one of the top five in Hall history, and in the same neighborhood as last year, when about 55,000 saw pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, slugger Frank Thomas and managers Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre inducted on a perfect sun-drenched day.The town -- population 1,834 hard on the banks of picturesque Otsego Lake -- was packed on Saturday with jerseys representing many of the franchises for which the quartet played. The predominant theme seemed to be Astros orange and blue.And for good reason.Biggio went in as an Astro and Johnson chose the D-backs over the Mariners. They were the first players entering the Hall as representatives of those expansion franchises. Smoltz, who played his first 20 seasons with Atlanta, was shown wearing the emblem of the Braves on his plaque. Martinez chose Boston, the first Red Sox player inducted since Jim Rice in 2009.Biggio, who grew up in Kings Park, N.Y., on Long Island, was the first to speak. He admitted leading up to the speech that he might cry, and he teared up when he mentioned his parents, both of whom are deceased."This is pretty cool, I must say," Biggio said. "What an incredible honor it is to be standing in front of these great men. I played against a lot of them, I admired a lot of them, and I respected all of them."Among those Biggio thanked was his coach at Seton Hall University, Mike Sheppard, whose motto was, "Never lose your hustle." Biggio said he tried to take that mindset into the Majors, which helped lead him to the Hall of Fame. He said Matt Galante, a Houston coach who taught him how to play second base, was the reason he was on the Hall of Fame stage.Biggio joined 25 other 3,000-hit players in the Hall. Save for Pete Rose, who is suspended and not eligible, Rafael Palmeiro (once suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs and is no longer on the ballot) and Derek Jeter (who retired this past season with 3,465 hits and will be eligible for the Hall in 2020), Biggio was the only player with 3,000 or more hits -- 1,014 of them for extra bases -- who previously had not been elected."I want to thank the game for everything, because the game has given me everything," Biggio said. "My family, my friends, my respect and, most of all, memories of a lifetime."This was the second consecutive historic induction. Last year was the first time three managers had ever been inducted during the same ceremony. This was the first time in 60 years that writers elected four players from the same ballot and the first time three pitchers were elected in the same year. The Baseball Writers' Association of America has elected 119 of the 215 players in the Hall.Six of the seven players elected during the past two years were on the ballot for the first time. Biggio made it in his third time on it. Even the managers were all elected the first time they were considered by the Expansion Era Committee.This year's vote of the writers was overwhelming. Johnson received 97.3 percent of the vote, Martinez 91.1 percent and Smoltz 82.9 percent. Biggio made it with 82.7 percent. Candidates need at least 75 percent to be elected.Martinez was the first native of the Dominican Republic to be inducted since Juan Marichal in 1983. Martinez was obviously proud of that distinction and easily received the loudest ovation before stepping to the dais."I would like all of you to not look at me as numbers, as baseball, as achievements," said Martinez, who spoke a portion of his speech in Spanish. "I would like you to actually see me as a sign of hope for a third-world country, for Latin America, as someone you can really look up to and say, 'I'm proud of you.'"Martinez went 219-100 in his career, a winning percentage of .687 that ranks sixth all-time and trails only Whitey Ford's .690 among pitchers in the modern era with at least 150 victories."I don't know if I can find the words in Spanish or English," Martinez said, "but my God, I'm thankful. I'm thankful for everything."Smoltz missed the entire 2000 season and his career was bifurcated by Tommy John elbow surgery. He won 213 games, 210 of them as a starter, and saved 154 as a closer. The right-hander is the first Hall of Fame pitcher to have had Tommy John surgery.Smoltz admitted the best way to describe his career was "unique," and said that he's received four major phone calls in his life. The first two were from the Tigers, first finding out he was drafted and then later traded to the Braves.The third was from Tommy John, the first pitcher to undergo ligament replacement surgery, encouraging him to continue his career."That phone call, at the age of 34, meant the world to me," Smoltz said. "Emotionally, I'd given up. I thought no one would wait for a pitcher my age on my contract. That was a pivotal moment in my career."Smoltz also spoke about the rising number of Tommy John surgeries, calling it an epidemic and reminding young players and parents that "baseball is not a year-round sport."The fourth call came in January, when he found out he'd been elected to the Hall of Fame."[It] is not something I've ever dreamed of," Smoltz said, "but when I got the call letting me know I was inducted into the Hall of Fame, words and emotions cannot describe."Johnson, whose 4,875 strikeouts rank No. 2 all-time behind Nolan Ryan's 5,714, said the day was about thanking all those who helped him get to the Hall of Fame."It's very humbling to look behind me and see the best who have played this game," Johnson said.Johnson earned four ERA titles and made 10 All-Star teams. The Big Unit's 10.61 strikeouts per nine innings rank first all-time."So many of the reasons that I've been inducted into the Hall of Fame are long gone now. My fastball is gone. I no longer have a mullet. And my scowl is long gone," Johnson said. "I'm so happy to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and be in the greatest fraternity of all time."
Barry M. Bloom/ MLB.com
Hall officials had estimated a crowd of close to 50,000, one of the top five in Hall history, and in the same neighborhood as last year, when about 55,000 saw pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, slugger Frank Thomas and managers Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre inducted on a perfect sun-drenched day.The town -- population 1,834 hard on the banks of picturesque Otsego Lake -- was packed on Saturday with jerseys representing many of the franchises for which the quartet played. The predominant theme seemed to be Astros orange and blue.And for good reason.Biggio went in as an Astro and Johnson chose the D-backs over the Mariners. They were the first players entering the Hall as representatives of those expansion franchises. Smoltz, who played his first 20 seasons with Atlanta, was shown wearing the emblem of the Braves on his plaque. Martinez chose Boston, the first Red Sox player inducted since Jim Rice in 2009.Biggio, who grew up in Kings Park, N.Y., on Long Island, was the first to speak. He admitted leading up to the speech that he might cry, and he teared up when he mentioned his parents, both of whom are deceased."This is pretty cool, I must say," Biggio said. "What an incredible honor it is to be standing in front of these great men. I played against a lot of them, I admired a lot of them, and I respected all of them."Among those Biggio thanked was his coach at Seton Hall University, Mike Sheppard, whose motto was, "Never lose your hustle." Biggio said he tried to take that mindset into the Majors, which helped lead him to the Hall of Fame. He said Matt Galante, a Houston coach who taught him how to play second base, was the reason he was on the Hall of Fame stage.Biggio joined 25 other 3,000-hit players in the Hall. Save for Pete Rose, who is suspended and not eligible, Rafael Palmeiro (once suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs and is no longer on the ballot) and Derek Jeter (who retired this past season with 3,465 hits and will be eligible for the Hall in 2020), Biggio was the only player with 3,000 or more hits -- 1,014 of them for extra bases -- who previously had not been elected."I want to thank the game for everything, because the game has given me everything," Biggio said. "My family, my friends, my respect and, most of all, memories of a lifetime."This was the second consecutive historic induction. Last year was the first time three managers had ever been inducted during the same ceremony. This was the first time in 60 years that writers elected four players from the same ballot and the first time three pitchers were elected in the same year. The Baseball Writers' Association of America has elected 119 of the 215 players in the Hall.Six of the seven players elected during the past two years were on the ballot for the first time. Biggio made it in his third time on it. Even the managers were all elected the first time they were considered by the Expansion Era Committee.This year's vote of the writers was overwhelming. Johnson received 97.3 percent of the vote, Martinez 91.1 percent and Smoltz 82.9 percent. Biggio made it with 82.7 percent. Candidates need at least 75 percent to be elected.Martinez was the first native of the Dominican Republic to be inducted since Juan Marichal in 1983. Martinez was obviously proud of that distinction and easily received the loudest ovation before stepping to the dais."I would like all of you to not look at me as numbers, as baseball, as achievements," said Martinez, who spoke a portion of his speech in Spanish. "I would like you to actually see me as a sign of hope for a third-world country, for Latin America, as someone you can really look up to and say, 'I'm proud of you.'"Martinez went 219-100 in his career, a winning percentage of .687 that ranks sixth all-time and trails only Whitey Ford's .690 among pitchers in the modern era with at least 150 victories."I don't know if I can find the words in Spanish or English," Martinez said, "but my God, I'm thankful. I'm thankful for everything."Smoltz missed the entire 2000 season and his career was bifurcated by Tommy John elbow surgery. He won 213 games, 210 of them as a starter, and saved 154 as a closer. The right-hander is the first Hall of Fame pitcher to have had Tommy John surgery.Smoltz admitted the best way to describe his career was "unique," and said that he's received four major phone calls in his life. The first two were from the Tigers, first finding out he was drafted and then later traded to the Braves.The third was from Tommy John, the first pitcher to undergo ligament replacement surgery, encouraging him to continue his career."That phone call, at the age of 34, meant the world to me," Smoltz said. "Emotionally, I'd given up. I thought no one would wait for a pitcher my age on my contract. That was a pivotal moment in my career."Smoltz also spoke about the rising number of Tommy John surgeries, calling it an epidemic and reminding young players and parents that "baseball is not a year-round sport."The fourth call came in January, when he found out he'd been elected to the Hall of Fame."[It] is not something I've ever dreamed of," Smoltz said, "but when I got the call letting me know I was inducted into the Hall of Fame, words and emotions cannot describe."Johnson, whose 4,875 strikeouts rank No. 2 all-time behind Nolan Ryan's 5,714, said the day was about thanking all those who helped him get to the Hall of Fame."It's very humbling to look behind me and see the best who have played this game," Johnson said.Johnson earned four ERA titles and made 10 All-Star teams. The Big Unit's 10.61 strikeouts per nine innings rank first all-time."So many of the reasons that I've been inducted into the Hall of Fame are long gone now. My fastball is gone. I no longer have a mullet. And my scowl is long gone," Johnson said. "I'm so happy to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and be in the greatest fraternity of all time."
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
