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RedPop4 · 01-18-2007, 10:40 AM

Tony Gwynn of the Padres and Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Orioles.Story from Hall of Fame website

Quote:

Gwynn, Ripken Jr. Join Baseball's Elite

Pair played their entire careers for one team, will be inducted on July 29

January 9, 2007 | Barry M. Bloom

NEW YORK, NY: Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. will be forever joined at the hip. They co-existed during the same era, playing their entire careers near their hometowns for a single Major League team, while dominating their respective leagues. Complete Results

On Tuesday, they were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on their first tries, both having been selected with nearly the highest vote percentages in history – Ripken finishing third behind Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan, while Gwynn nestled in at seventh.

“To me, the numbers and the stats, they’re overwhelming,” said Ripken, the Baltimore Orioles star who grew up in nearby Aberdeen, Md., and received a best-ever 537 votes on the record 545 ballots cast. “I really didn’t get caught up in wanting to be unanimous or wanting to have the most. I’m very content to be voted in.”

Gwynn, who grew up in Long Beach, Ca., and played 20 seasons down the freeway for the San Diego Padres, received 532 votes, the second most ever.

Gwynn, who won a record-tying eight National League batting titles, and Ripken, who shattered Lou Gehrig’s record by playing in 2,632 consecutive games, will be inducted at Cooperstown on July 29. They will be joined by any candidates elected in the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee election, the results of which will be announced on Feb. 27.

Ripken garnered 98.53 percent of the vote from veteran members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, the most ever for a position player. Ripken finished behind Seaver (98.83 in 1992 and Ryan (98.79 in 1999). Gwynn's percentage of 97.6 percent ranks directly behind Ty Cobb, George Brett and Hank Aaron, pretty good company.

“These percentages started to concern me a bit,” Gwynn said during a conference call. “I feel guilty enough as it is being able to get in, while other guys can’t. I was hoping to be in the low 90s and I could go about my business. I didn’t want to be close to unanimous. I’m glad it worked out the way it did.”

Mark McGwire, also a ballot newcomer with 583 career home runs, fell well short of election, his name appearing on less than a quarter of the ballots cast, two of which were left completely blank.

It was a day of good news and bad news for Rich "Goose" Gossage, the reliever who is creeping ever so close to his day in the Cooperstown sun. The bad news is that this time Gossage came up 21 votes shy of the 75 percent needed to ascend to the Hall. The good news is that with a much thinner ballot next year, Gossage seems to be on the cusp. In 2008, Tim Raines and David Justice are the cream of the freshman class.

On the ballot for the eighth year, the Goose came in at 71.2 percent, an increase from his 64.6 percent a year ago. In the history of the BBWAA Hall of Fame voting, no candidate has ever received at least 70 percent in an election without eventually gaining a place in Cooperstown. Most recently, Don Sutton (73.2 percent in 1997) and Gaylord Perry (72.1 percent) were elected the very next year.

Of the 17 first-timers on the ballot, only McGwire and Harold Baines received enough votes to carry them over. Five years after he retires, a player has 15 years of eligibility on the ballot, but he must receive at least 5 percent of the vote each year to maintain that status.

With the addition of Gwynn and Ripken to the Hall, 280 members have now been elected, including 198 former Major League players -- 105 of them by BBWAA, whose voters must have at least 10 years of consecutive membership to receive a ballot.

Jim Rice and Andre Dawson, who like Gossage, received more than 60 percent of the vote last year, both lost a little ground. Rice dropped from 64.8 percent last year to 63.5 percent this year, while Dawson slumped from 61 percent in 2006 to 56.7 percent this time around.

From the outset, though, Gwynn and Ripken were dead-bang winners.

Gwynn played for the 1984 and 1998 pennant-winning Padres and considers his home run at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series to be the highlight of his stellar career.

Gwynn tied Honus Wagner for the most NL batting titles in history, and his career-high .394 average during the strike-shortened 1994 season is the highest to lead either league in the past 65 years -- since Ted Williams became the last of the .400 hitters when he batted .406 to lead the American League in 1941.

In addition Gwynn was a 15-time NL All-Star who had 3,141 hits, batted .338 and won five Gold Gloves as a right fielder in his 20 Major League seasons, all played with the San Diego Padres.

But he hit only 135 homers and knocked in just 1,138 runs in 2,440 games, both stats he considered to be personal shortcomings. He also never played a complete 162-game season.

“I thought I was going to get penalized,” Gwynn said. “I didn’t win any championships. I didn’t hit whole lot of home runs. I didn’t drive in a whole lot of people. To be one of those lucky ones to get in is a blessing.”

In contrast, Ripken, a shortstop and third baseman, didn’t miss a game from May 30, 1982, to Sept. 20, 1998, shattering the 2,130 record consecutive game streak once held by Gehrig, the Yankees first baseman. Ripken had 3,184 hits -- including 431 home runs -- batted .276, was twice an AL Most Valuable Player (1983 and 1991), was a 19-time AL All-Star, and won two Gold Gloves.

His Orioles defeated the Phillies in five games to win the 1983 World Series, with Ripken, at short, snaring the series-ending line drive hit by Garry Maddux. But Ripken’s Baltimore squad never again played in the Fall Classic during the course of his 21-year career.

Certainly, he captivated the hearts of baseball fans everywhere on the night of Sept. 7, 1995, at Camden Yards when the Iron Man slipped past the Iron Horse. That night, after the game against the Angels became official in the fifth inning, Ripken circled the stadium slapping hands with many of the fans as a never-ending cacophony of cheers rained down on him.

“That was completely spontaneous,” Ripken said about the lap. “It was Bobby Bo (Bonilla) and Rafael Palmeiro who pushed me out of the dugout and said, ‘Hey, if you don’t do a lap around this thing we’re never going to get this game re-started.’ As I started to do it, the celebration of 50,000 became very one-on-one and personal. Catching the last out of the World Series was the best feeling because there was a sense of fulfillment, completion and joy.

“But the best human experience of my life was that lap. At the end of it, I couldn’t have cared less if that game got started again. This (the Hall of Fame) is a wonderful moment and a wonderful feeling.”

Complete Voting Results

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com.

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Both men were great players, and, seemingly, personified excellence. Two great inductions.

stanthetaxman · 01-18-2007, 10:45 AM

See, when RedPop posts in here, we have TWO BB fans?!

I'm OK with it . Both more then deserving. Ever notice how much tougher it is to get into the BB HOF then the Football? Seems like football has 6-8 a year?

RedPop4 · 01-18-2007, 11:19 AM

Interesting, too, because, SUPPOSEDLY the benchmark is 500 home runs. I think that's total crap, but what are ya gonna do? Gwynn himself said, "I'm proud to represent the 'contact guys'" and I whole-heartedly agree.

stanthetaxman · 01-18-2007, 11:20 AM

Oh, he was as good as they come. Think Fred McGriff ended with 497? HOF worthy? I think NOT!

RedPop4 · 01-18-2007, 12:21 PM

Gwynn could have been a homer guy, but chose not to do so.

stanthetaxman · 01-18-2007, 12:23 PM

I LOVE the "slapper" ala Carew, Gwynn, and dare I say.........Mr. Pete Rose!

RedPop4 · 01-18-2007, 05:33 PM

Don't forget Mr. Boggs. with a chick in every town and chicken in every pot.

stanthetaxman · 01-18-2007, 05:38 PM

3000th hit a home run for the home team Devil Rays. I always liked him.

Iceman · 01-19-2007, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StantheTaxMan

See, when RedPop posts in here, we have TWO BB fans?!

...

HEY!! What an I?? Chopped liver??

I am very happy with both Gywnn and Ripkin entering the HOF. These 2 guys are pure class along with being great ball players. Gywnn took a lot of heat from the MLB players union for taking a "smaller" contract to stay in San Diego rather then test the free agency market. He grew up in the SD area, went to college at SDSU, lives in SD, has business interests in SD and chose to stay there... and the fans in SD never let their appreciation for that fade.

With regards to the HOF voting... first get rid of the sports reporter voting and make it so the living members of the HOF be the only ones that decide who gets admitted. The players are the ones who best know how good a player the nominee was. The reporters are jerks at times and not vote for a player because they wouldn't give interviews or some such nonsense. The players are the best to decide if Pete Rose or Mark McQuire should be in. From what I have read about 90% of the current HOF members dont want either one in the HOF. They played by the rules and dont want the HOF "dishonored" by cheaters.

Second would be to get rid of the "waiting period" that some players have to go through. Either they are a HOF caliber player of not. How can "waiting" for 5-6 years make him a HOF caliber player when the voters didnt think he was earlier? The NFL is really bad for this... Last year Michael Irvin didnt get in because "there were too many other wide recievers eligable". A player is either a HOF player or not. Time doesnt change his stats.