Gwynn, Ripken Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
January 9, 2007 by Geoff Young
Filed under Hall of Fame, Personalities
Former San Diego Padres outfielder Tony Gwynn and former Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken have been elected to the Hall of Fame. Gwynn and Ripken were elected in their first year on the ballot. Congratulations to both.
Notable omissions include Mark McGwire, who received just 23.5% of the vote (75% is needed) despite his 583 career home runs; reliever Rich “Goose” Gossage (if Bruce Sutter is in, then Gossage certainly should be); and starting pitcher Bert Blyleven, who remains one of the best eligible players not in the Hall of Fame. I’m very disappointed to see Blyleven continue to be overlooked. I really thought the writers would get that one right this year, but no such luck.
[Update: Full voting results are now available.]
Blyleven is very possibly one of the top 20 pitchers ever… it’s a sham that he isn’t in the HOF yet.
No doubt. His exclusion is a real head-scratcher. What really gets me is that he doesn’t seem to be gathering any momentum. It’s as though folks have made up their mind about him and don’t wish to be confused by facts. Sigh…