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01/04/2005 12:01 PM ET
Boggs, Sandberg are Hall choices
Infielders will enter Cooperstown shrine in July
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com
NEW YORK -- Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg are the latest members of baseball's most exclusive club. Boggs, a five-time American League batting champion with the Boston Red Sox who swatted out 3,010 hits, and Sandberg, a 10-time All-Star second baseman for the Chicago Cubs, were revealed Tuesday to be the only players voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame among 27 candidates on the ballot.
A select group of 510 members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America cast their votes, the second-most ballots filed in Hall of Fame history compared to the 515 writers who enshrined Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett in 2001. A name must be marked on 75 percent of the filed ballots for a former player to be elected; 387 votes were needed this year.
The pair will be inducted during Hall of Fame Weekend ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y., on July 31, giving baseball's red brick shrine on Main Street 195 former players, 102 elected by the BBWAA.
Boggs, who played for the Red Sox, New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, received 91.9 percent -- 474 votes -- in his first year on the ballot. He is the 21st of the 25 members of the 3,000-hit club to be elected with the others, Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn and Rickey Henderson, all apparent first-ballot electees in 2007 and beyond.
Pete Rose, the all-time leader with 4,256 hits, is banned from baseball and has never appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot.
Sandberg, who played his entire 16-year career with the Cubs and was the 1984 National League Most Valuable Player, made it on his third try, finishing with 76.2 percent or 393 votes. Sandberg's vote total had increased from 49.2 percent in 2003 to 61 percent a year ago.
Once again those who fell short included the trio of relievers Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage and Lee Smith and Boston outfielder Jim Rice.
Sutter and Gossage received big voting boosts over last year, meaning their chances auger well for 2006, when the most heralded newcomers on the ballot will include Albert Belle, Will Clark, Gary Gaetti and Orel Hershiser.
That edge will disappear in 2007, the year Gwynn, Ripken and Mark McGwire are all eligible for the first time. By then, Sutter will be in his 14th year and Rice in the 13th of the 15 allowed on the writers' ballot.
Sutter, who is considered the father of the split-finger fastball and had 300 saves, finished third this year with 66.7 percent of the vote, up from 60 percent in 2004, when he was fourth behind inductees Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley, plus Sandberg.
Gossage, who pitched in the era when relievers commonly went three innings, leapt from 40.7 percent of the vote last year to 55.2 percent this year. Gossage has openly wondered why his 310 career saves don't compare favorably with Rollie Fingers, who had 341 and was elected to the Hall in 1991. They may next year.
Among the three, only Smith, far and away the all-time leader with 478 saves, remained flat. He received 38.8 percent of the vote this time around, after being named on 37 percent of the ballots cast last year.
Rice, who went up a few ticks -- from 55.5 percent last year to 59.5 percent this year -- was a teammate of Boggs, played his entire 16-year career with the Red Sox and hit .298 with 382 home runs.
History was with Boggs. Since former Cardinals slugger Stan Musial was enshrined in 1969, all eligible members of the 3,000-hit club have been elected on the first ballot. Boggs also was an 11-time AL All-Star and finished his 18-year career with a .328 lifetime batting average.
Sandberg benefited from the fact that there wasn't a No. 2 sure shot on the ballot like a year ago when Molitor and Eckersley were both voted in on their first tries. His 277 lifetime homers as a second baseman were the all-time record for that position until Jeff Kent passed it this past season.
Sandberg was the eighth player to be elected to the Hall of Fame in his third year on the ballot.
The voters can be benevolent or stingy.
In 2002, the BBWAA elected only one player -- 15-time All-Star shortstop Ozzie Smith, who came up with the San Diego Padres and played most of his 19-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals. But it has been nine years since the writers failed to vote anyone into the Hall of Fame. That happened in 1996 when Phil Niekro, Don Sutton and Tony Perez were the top vote-getters, but all failed to make the cut. All three, though, were eventually voted in.
This year, two players were voted in on the same ballot for the 23rd time since the first Hall class was enshrined in 1936.
Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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