For a second consecutive year, the National Baseball Hall of Fame player ballot, revealed today in conjunction with the Baseball Writers' Association of America, boasts an embarrassment of riches, this time for the prospective Class of 2015.
The newcomers on the ballot include these stellar pitchers: 303-game winner Randy Johnson; John Smoltz, the right-hander who had 213 wins and 154 saves in 21 seasons; and Pedro Martinez, whose .687 career winning percentage is sixth-best in Major League history and is by far the tops of his era. Gary Sheffield, who hit 509 home runs and drove in 100 or more runs nine times, and six-time All-Star shortstop Nomar Garciaparra are also new.
Add Craig Biggio, the multi-positioned star who had 3,060 hits in 20 seasons -- all played with the Astros -- and the chance for another impressive induction class next July 26 on the lawn behind the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y., is complete.
 
Pedro, Big Unit, Smoltz lead newcomers on Hall of Fame ballot
 
The results of the writers' vote will be revealed Jan. 6 on MLB Network and MLB.com.
Biggio, in his third year on the ballot, missed by a scant two votes earlier this year. No candidate has ever failed to make up that kind of margin in the following election. Save for Pete Rose, who is serving a lifetime suspension for betting on baseball and is not eligible for the Hall, and Rafael Palmeiro, once suspended for performance-enhancing drugs, Biggio is the only player with 3,000 or more hits who has not been elected.
"Obviously, I'm disappointed to come that close," Biggio said after Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas all were elected in their first years on the ballot. "I feel for my family, the organization and the fans. Hopefully next year."
Biggio finished with 74.8 percent of the vote. He was followed by Mike Piazza at 62.2 percent, Jack Morris at 61.5 percent and former Astros teammate Jeff Bagwell at 54.3 percent. The vote fell off precipitously after that as stars tainted or implicated by performance-enhancing drugs remained at a low ebb of acceptance. Roger Clemens, who won 354 games, finished ninth at 35.4 percent; Barry Bonds, the all-time leader with 762 career homers and 73 in a single season, was right behind him at 34.7 percent, and Sammy Sosa, who smacked 609 homers, hung on at 7.2 percent. All are back for a third time.
Candidates on any Hall of Fame ballot need 75 percent of the vote to be elected. It's possible that Piazza -- the former Mets and Dodgers catcher whose 396 homers are the most ever by anyone at his position -- will be able to make up the 12.8 percent difference in this vote. He's also on the ballot for a third time.
Any electees from the BBWAA ballot will be inducted along with anyone elected by the 16-person Golden Era Committee, which will make its announcement on the first day of the Winter Meetings in San Diego on Dec. 8. That 10-man ballot includes nine players and one executive whose careers all began during the period from 1947-72.
Last year, the Expansion Era Committee unanimously elected managers Joe Torre, Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa. They joined Maddux, Glavine and Thomas in a historic induction on a crystal-clear day in the upstate New York town hard on the banks of Lake Otsego.
Cox, of course, managed Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz in Atlanta. Smoltz played 20 seasons for an Atlanta team that went to the playoffs in 14 consecutive non-strike seasons from 1991-2005, won five National League pennants and the 1995 World Series. For Smoltz, 210 of his wins and every one of his 154 saves were for the Braves.
Smoltz was there for this year's induction as a commentator for MLB Network and experienced the joy that weekend brings.
"I thought it was one of the coolest things I have ever been a part of," he said. "I mean that from a standpoint of even if I never get in. I just felt it was something every baseball fan should experience once."
A change in the rules for the BBWAA ballot made during that induction weekend by the Hall's board of directors has reduced the period of eligibility from 15 years to 10 years, giving everyone a 33-percent shorter time period to be elected. A player must still be named on at least five percent of the ballots each year to remain eligible. After 10 years, any player can still be considered by the Expansion Era Committee when it meets every three years to discuss those players, executives and umpires whose careers began after 1972.
The Hall chose to grandfather in the remaining three candidates who have been on the writers' ballot 11-15 years: Lee Smith (13th year), Alan Trammell (14th) and Don Mattingly (15th and final).
Other returning candidates include Tim Raines, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Jeff Kent, Fred McGriff and Mark McGwire. Morris, having completed his 15 years of eligibility, is off the ballot.
Johnson would seem to be a certain first-ballot selection. The hard-throwing left-hander played for six teams, winning his 300th game for the Giants in 2009. Of his 303 victories, 130 came in 10 seasons for the Mariners and 118 in eight with the D-backs, including two tours sandwiched around a pair of 17-win seasons for the Yankees. He won the Cy Young Award five times, one in the American League for Seattle in 1995 and four in a row in the NL for Arizona from 1999-2002. He led the Major Leagues in strikeouts each of those seasons for four of his eight big league strikeout titles.
In 2001, Johnson shared the MVP Award of the World Series with teammate Curt Schilling as the two dominated the Yankees and the D-backs won in seven games. And in 2002, he won the NL pitching Triple Crown with 24 wins, a 2.32 ERA and 334 strikeouts. Johnson's 4,875 whiffs are the most ever by a left-hander and second behind Nolan Ryan's all-time record 5,714. Johnson also pitched a perfect game in 2004 against the Braves.
Martinez pitched for five teams in 18 seasons, but his claim to fame centers on the seven years, 1998-2004, he pitched for the Red Sox, for whom he had a remarkable 117-37 record. His career record was 219-100. He won the Cy Young Award three times, twice while with Boston, including 1999 when he took the AL's pitching Triple Crown with a career-high 23 wins, 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts.
Schilling is on the ballot for a third time, having garnered 29.2 percent of the vote a year ago. He had 216 regular-season wins and pitched his last four seasons for the Red Sox, teaming with Martinez to sweep the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series and end Boston's legendary 86-year championship drought. Proponents of Schilling argue that his 11-2 postseason record -- including a 4-1 mark in the World Series -- and 2.23 ERA make him worthy for Hall consideration. Martinez, meanwhile, was 4-6 with a 3.46 ERA in the postseason, and was 1-2 in the World Series, the only win coming in Game 3 of the 2004 Series when he pitched seven innings of scoreless, three-hit ball. He left the Red Sox after the Series, signing a free-agent contract with the Mets.
Smoltz won 209 regular-season games as a starter, and in addition was 15-4 in the postseason, four fewer than Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte, who holds the playoff record with 19 wins. Smoltz underwent Tommy John elbow surgery and missed the entire 2000 season. When he returned it was as a reliever. He saved 144 games from 2002-04, then returned to starting, going 44-24 from 2005-07; he was 40 years old in the final season of that run.
"When I was playing, I wanted to win more than anything," said Smoltz, explaining his transition from starter to reliever. "I never really even contemplated any of those decisions when I changed direction in my career for the risk or reward of the Hall of Fame. That never even entered my mind."
Carlos Delgado, who totaled 473 home runs among his 2,038 career hits, is also on the ballot for the first time, along with fellow first baseman Tony Clark, outfielder-first baseman Darin Erstad, pitchers Tom Gordon, Eddie Guardado, Troy Percival and Jason Schmidt, infielders Rich Aurilia and Aaron Boone and outfielders Jermaine Dye, Cliff Floyd and Brian Giles.
Barry M. Bloom/ MLB.com
 

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