Posted on 01/04/2005 11:42:36 AM PST by IndyTiger
Wade Boggs was overwhelmingly elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility Tuesday, and Ryne Sandberg made it with just six votes to spare on his third try.
Boggs, a five-time American League batting champion for the Boston Red Sox (news), was selected by 474 of the record 516 voters who are 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
The 91.86 percent of ballots he received was the 19th-highest percentage in Hall history, and he became the 41st player elected on his first chance.
Sandberg, the 1984 National League MVP for the Chicago Cubs (news), was picked by 393 voters. He appeared on 76.2 percent of ballots, just above the 75 percent cutoff (387). Sandberg received 49.2 percent of votes in 2003 and got 61.1 percent last year, falling 71 votes short.
Results of voting by the Veterans Committee will be released March 2. Gil Hodges, Tony Oliva and Ron Santo were among the 25 candidates on that ballot.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
Wow, Ryne Sandberg. A real baseball immortal.
probably the only player to get a higher percentage than that in the next few years will be Cal Ripken...
Glad to see Sandberg got into the hall finally....
Wade Boggs was overwhelmingly elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility Tuesday
Arrgh! Another Yankee.
Obviously not a Cubs fan, eh? Sandberg was a nine-time Gold Glove second baseman and a 10-time All-Star. He hit 277 homers, the most by a second baseman at the time of his retirement, and led the NL with 40 in 1990. His .989 fielding percentage is the highest at the position.
Or maybe they won't.
"Arrgh! Another Yankee."
But it will be the Red Sox uniform in Cooperstown.
Who are these Yankees anyway?
I wonder what hat Boggs will wear. I have the same question about Clemens. I understand that players have little input into the decision. Both Boggs and Clemens made their names with the Soxs.
Now that they let stiffs like Gary Carter into the HOF, a real player like Sandberg should be a shoo-in.
Sutter might have a chance next year if Rose doesn't get reinstated. He's the best of the bunch in the coming years and the only ones who might have a shot are Gooden or Hershiser:
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You might take some comfort from the fact that Boggs was probably a Hall of Famer long before he put on a Yankee uniform.
When Boggs was a minor leaguer with the Red Sox, he was left unprotected one year, which means any team could have claimed him for $50,000.
Sandberg was the extra player the Phillies tossed in to the Larry Bowa-Ivan DeJesus trade.
Judging talent is an imperfect science.
Don't know if this is true or not, but I recall hearing a while back that Steinbrenner paid Clemens extra for the Rocket to agree to have the Yankee cap on his HOP plaque. He'll always be a BoSox to me, though.
Wasn't Boggs bribed by TB to go in as a DevilRay?
Looking rather slim after 2007. Rickey Henderson is in easily (provided he doesn't make another comeback this season), but no one else looks likely to get enough votes.
Looking forward to that 2007 Hall of Fame vote. Gwynn should be a unanimous selection on his first attempt -- in fact, I've said for some time that he was the best player in the modern (post-1967) era.
HOP=HOF!
I think Boggs is going into the HOF as a Red Sox.
2006: Dwight Gooden, Orel Hershiser
2007: Tony Gwynn, Mark McGwire, Cal Ripken, Jr.
2008: No first ballot HOF
2009: Rickey Henderson (Unless he finds a Major league spot this year.)
2010: No first ballot HOF (Edgar was a DH. He'll get snubbed.)
Bill James does a statistical analysis of all of these guys. I'd like to see his rankings of the remaining candidates.
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