As many suspected, Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven will be headed to Cooperstown, as they were elected today to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Alomar, a 12-time All Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner at second base was elected with a resounding 90% of ballots in just his second year of eligibility. Alomar finished with a career slash line of .300/.371/.443.
Blyleven, a right-handed 22 year veteran racked up 287 career wins and a 3.31 ERA while pitching for five different teams and recording 15 wins or greater in a single season seven times. Blyleven was going for his 14th try at the Hall and running out of time to get elected, as players only get 15 opportunities. This year he received 79.7% of the vote, one year after missing the hall by only 8 votes.
Barry Larkin was the closest near miss, receiving 62.1% of the votes, while the ballots were particularly judgemental towards accused steroid users. Mark McGuire and Rafael Palmeiro both received less than 20% of ballots voting for them with Palmeiro at 11% and McGuire at 19% down from his 23% on last years ballot. Former Houston Astros star Jeff Bagwell, who faced suspicion and rumors regarding steroid use during this years balloting process finished with 41.7% of the vote, suggesting that the rumors will most likely not keep Bagwell out of the hall in the years to come.
Local Tampa area product and former Tampa Bay Ray player Fred McGriff finished with 17.9% of ballots voted for in his second year of Hall eligibility despite having a dominant offensive career.