The 2015 inductees to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame have been announced, and many of the writers that voted are already patting themselves on the back. Four players were voted into the Hall: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and Craig Biggio.
Johnson, Martinez, and Smoltz were all appearing on the ballot for the first time, and they also received the highest percentage of votes, according to ESPN. Biggio was on the ballot for the third time, and he finally got inducted after missing by a mere two votes last year.
It was the first time since 1955 that as many as four players were elected to the Hall of Fame in the same year. Johnson led the way among the four, claiming 97.3 percent of the vote, which was the eighth-highest percentage in the history of voting.
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Martinez received 91.1 percent of the vote, while Smoltz got 82.9 percent, and Biggio got 82.7 percent of the vote. Players must receive 75 percent of the vote in order to be inducted.
Of the players that missed, Mike Piazza led the way, claiming 69.9 percent of the vote and missing the Hall by just 28 votes. Tim Raines and Jeff Bagwel were both in around 55 percent, while Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds were all in the high-30s.
The voting totals come as a bit of a surprise, as many writers panned the voting process for only allowing them to vote for 10 players, when there are more than 10 worthy candidates. Yet, a mere four get inducted in to the hall.
Reactions were mixed among writers, as some think it is a great result...
RJ, Pedro, Smoltz, Biggio - good outcome.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 6, 2015
Whereas others were more critical.
15 voters didn't vote for Randy. A ridiculous 49 didn't vote for Pedro. I'd like to see explanations from everyone who left them off ballot — Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) January 6, 2015
Some acknowledged yet again that the system is broken.
Martinez was great enough to be unanimous as a pick, and the fact he wasn't named on nine percent of the ballots speaks to process problems.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 6, 2015
All in all, it certainly could have been worse (like the guy that voted for Hideo Nomo but Left Greg Maddux off last year), but until baseball changes its election system, the revelation of the Hall of Fame inductees will always be more about who was left out than who got in.
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