Today the hall of fame gained it's 211th, 212th, 213th, and 214th players. Since the winter meetings ended I have been very busy with my sites new page Working The Count's 2015 MLB Predictions, but for the hall of fame I had to take a break. The players that were inducted today were Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and the Astros first Hall of Famer Craig Biggio.
Randy Johnson was a certain pick this year, but just how much he made it by was the exceptional part of the story. The 6'10" lefty had 97.3% of his possible votes. This is 22.3% above the needed percentage which is 75%. Big Unit (Johnson) has the 8th highest votes of all time only behind elite players such as Nolan Ryan (98.7%) Cal Ripken Jr. (98.5%) Ty Cobb (98.2%) and a few others. During his career Johnson was a strikeout machine. He mowed down batters at a rate that stands as the best career SO/9 ever 10.9. Johnson also racked up 4,875 strikeouts during his 22 year career; this ranks second all time behind only Nolan Ryan who achieved an incredible 5,714 strikeouts. Only fifteen players have ever accumulated even half as many strikeouts as Ryan, and of those fifteen three spots are taken by the three aces that were just elected to the Hall of Fame: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and John Smoltz. |
John Smoltz was a consistent pitcher throughout his career and was a part of the dream rotation of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz (now all three are hall of famers). Smoltz also is the first pitcher to make it to the hall of fame after Tommy John surgery. His time as a closer and a starter made him the only player to have over 150 saves and 200 wins. |
Craig Biggio was the only batter of these four and also the only player to be on the ballot before. In both 2012-13 and 2013-14 ballots Biggio did not make the cut (75%). Biggio was somewhat overshadowed in the steroid era. while other players where hitting 50+ home runs in a season, Biggio never hit more than 26, but he was a very consistent contact hitter who reached base 4,505 times in 20 years. The only batters who reached more often in 20 or less seasons were Ted Williams (19 seasons), and Derek Jeter (20 seasons). Craig Biggio also had the most HBPs in his career of anyone in modern baseball (1903-) at 285. |