Three New Hall of Famers Elected Today

Today's Hall of Fame announcement added three new Hall of Famers to the Hall roster and also three new baseballs will be added to my Hall of Fame cabinet.  Well, they'll be moved from one side of the cabinet to another, but they will move.

I got the above Ivan Rodriguez baseball last year from my friend, Sam.  We worked out a deal and I landed this ball, which he had signed in person.  The ball is a Texas League ball, but that is fine with me.

Rodriguez (b. 1971) played in the majors from 1991 to 2011 for the Rangers, Marlins, Tigers, Yankees, Astros and Nationals.  He had 2,844 hits, 311 home runs and a .296 batting average,  He was a 14-time All Star, 13-time Gold Glove Award Winner and a 7-time silver slugger.  He was the 1999 AL MVP, 2003 NLCS MVP and won the World Series with the Marlins in 2003.

Rodriguez was elected to the Hall of Fame today when he was named on 76% of the ballot, his first year of eligibility.  That's right, Pudge is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

I picked up this Jeff Bagwell baseball from an auction at Collect Auctions a couple years ago, in anticipation that he would get the call. It took some time, but he finally got in this year.

Bagwell (b. 1968) played in the majors from 1991 to 2005 for the Astros.  He had 2,314 hits, 449 home runs and a .297 batting average.  He was the 1991 NL Rookie of the Year and the 1994 NL MVP.  He received MVP votes in 10 of the 15 seasons in which he played.  He was an All Star 4 times, Silver Slugger 3 times and a Gold Glove Award winner once.  He was elected to the Hall today when he received 86.2% of the vote.  This was his 7th time on the ballot.

I met Tim Raines at the National this past summer and got him on this baseball.  Much like Bagwell, I picked up the ball in anticipation of "when" not "if" Raines would be elected.  I even told Raines when I met him that I looked forward to today to hear his name called.  This is something that has been a long time coming and well deserved.

Raines (b. 1959) played in the majors from 1979 to 1999, 2001 and 2002 for the Expos, White Sox, Yankees, A's, Orioles and Marlins.  He had 2,605 hits, 170 home runs and a .294 batting average.  He was the 1986 NL batting champ.  He was a 7-time All Star and a Silver Slugger (1986).  Raines led the NL in stolen bases four times and retired with 808, 5th all-time.  He won the World Series in 1996 with the Yankees.

Raines was named on 86.0% of the ballots today, finally ending his quest to make it into the Hall.  This was his 10th and final year of eligibility.

Adding Rodriguez, Bagwell and Raines pushes my Hall of Fame total up to 132.