Sutter only player voted to Hall Of Fame

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Sutter elected to baseball Hall of FameAssociated Press

NEW YORK -- Bruce Sutter was elected to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday, becoming just the fourth relief pitcher given baseball's highest honor.

Sutter was selected on 400 of a record 520 ballots cast by 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America for 76.9 percent.

Players needed 390 votes (75 percent) to gain election. Jim Rice fell 53 votes short, finishing second with 337 votes (64.8 percent), one ahead of Goose Gossage.

Only three other pitchers who spent a large part of their careers as relievers are in the Hall: Hoyt Wilhelm (52 starts), Rollie Fingers (37 starts) and Dennis Eckersley (361 starts). Wilhelm was elected to the Hall in 1985, Fingers in 1992 and Eckersley in 2004.

Cy Young Award winners Orel Hershiser and Dwight Gooden were among the 14 first-time eligibles on the ballot, a group that also included Albert Belle, Will Clark and Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

Pete Rose was not on the ballot because he remains on the permanently suspended list, and under current rules his 15 years of eligibility for BBWAA voters expired with this election. Baseball's career hits leader, who agreed in 1989 to a lifetime ban after betting on the Cincinnati Reds while he managed the team, received nine write-in votes last year, his lowest total. He has been written in on 239 of 6,687 ballots (3.6 percent) over 14 years.

Sutter, who popularized the split-finger fastball, is 19th on the career list with 300 saves.

Sutter fell 43 votes shy last year in his 12th appearance on the ballot, receiving 344 votes (66.7 percent), up from 301 in 2004.

The ballot next year will for the first time include Mark McGwire, which most likely means the focus will shift from the bullpen to whether statistics compiled by players in the steroid era should be evaluated differently. Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn also are on next year's ballot for the first time.

There have only been seven BBWAA elections that failed to produce a Hall of Famer _ and only one since 1971. That was in 1996, when Phil Niekro (68.3 percent) fell 32 votes short, followed by Tony Perez (65.7 percent) and Don Sutton (63.8 percent). Niekro was elected the following year, Sutton in 1998 and Perez in 2000.

Jerome Holtzman, who as a baseball writer invented the save statistic in the 1960s, credits the late Dick Howser and Tony La Russa for developing the modern closer.

"There has been an evolution. The managers did it," Holtzman said Monday. "I remember one day I was in Baltimore and Johnny Oates was the manager of the Orioles, and he found out I helped create the save and so forth. He said, `You're responsible for the ninth-inning pitcher.' And I said, `No the managers were. They're the ones who started holding out their best relief pitcher for the ninth inning."'

While the Veterans Committee doesn't vote this year, a special Negro leagues and pre-Negro leagues selection committee meets Feb. 27 in Tampa, Fla. Inductions are scheduled for July 30 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

[nj meadowlands]

He only got 76.2%. There was almost nobody elected

Guys like Will Clark and Doc Gooden are officially eliminated from contention

[shawn306]

Here is the breakdown

Bruce Sutter 400 76.9%

Jim Rice 337 64.8%

Rich Gossage 336 64.6%

Andre Dawson 317 61.0%

Bert Blyleven 277 53.3%

Lee Smith 234 45.0%

Jack Morris 214 41.2%

Tommy John 154 29.6%

Steve Garvey 135 26.0%

Alan Trammell 92 17.7%

Dave Parker 75 14.4%

Dave Concepcion 65 12.5%

Don Mattingly 64 12.3%

Orel Hershiser 58 11.2%

Dale Murphy 56 10.8%

Albert Belle 40 7.7%

Will Clark 23 4.4%

Dwight Gooden 17 3.3%

Willie McGee 12 2.3%

Ozzie Guillen 5 1.0%

Hal Morris 5 1.0%

Gary Gaetti 4 0.8%

John Wetteland 4 0.8%

Rick Aguilera 3 0.6%

Gregg Jefferies 2 0.4%

Doug Jones 2 0.4%

Walt Weiss 1 0.2%

Gary DiSarcina 0 0.0%

Alex Fernandez 0 0.0%

You gotta wonder how many writers left Rice off the ballot completely ?

[SlugORama99]

I can't believe that Rice hasn't been elected yet. If you look at the guy's numbers they are pretty impressive. It is very surprising.

[GimmeShelter]

I can't believe that Rice hasn't been elected yet. If you look at the guy's numbers they are pretty impressive. It is very surprising.

The writers hate Rice and Albert Belle.

They have an "out" with Belle due to his career being cut short but his numbers were pretty strong as well.

[shawn306]

The writers hate Rice and Albert Belle.

They have an "out" with Belle due to his career being cut short but his numbers were pretty strong as well.

Rice was nowhere near as bad as Albert Belle was with the press.

You have guys like Steve Carlton who rarely if ever talked to the press and got in. Carlton though had to put on amazing numbers in order to get there.

If you were a dominant player in your era then you should get in.

Rice is one of those guys.

[haggis]

This year was Rice's last shot. Yeah his last year is next, but Ripken Jr, Gywnn and McGwire are all on the ballot. If he couldn't make it this year, he can't make it any year.

Jim won't make it. Shame.

[SlugORama99]

You're right it is a shame. I really hope that the writers take their anger out on Mr. Andro and don't let him in his first time. That would be sweet justice.

[Blackout]

Rice has a few years left I think