Warning: mysqli_query(): (HY000/1030): Got error 28 from storage engine in /home/sportsun/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1942

Second baseman Roberto Alomar and Pitcher Bert Blyleven were the only players elected to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday by the Baseball Writers of America. They each won two World Series, but neither is all that exciting even to people who really enjoy arguing about such things. Both players narrowly missed election last year, Alomar by eight votes and Blyleven by just five.

This year, Alomar shot up to 90% in his second year on the ballot, well above the 75% cut-off for election. Blyleven got in on his fourteenth year on the ballot with 79.7%. Shortstop Barry Larkin came the closest of those missed out with 62.1%.

Other missing out, but receiving enough votes to stay on the ballot next year:
Jack Morris 311 votes, 53.5%
Lee Smith 263 45.3%
Jeff Bagwell 242 41.7%
Tim Raines 218 37.5%
Edgar Martinez 191 32.9%
Alan Trammell 141 24.3%
Larry Walker 118 20.3%
Mark McGwire 115 19.8%
Fred McGriff 104 17.9%
Dave Parker 89 15.3%
Don Mattingly 79 13.6%
Dale Murphy 73 12.6%
Rafael Palmeiro 64 11.0%
Juan Gonzalez 30 5.2%

The lowest vote getters who will be removed from future Hall of Fame ballots:
Harold Baines 28 4.8%
John Franco 27 4.6%
Kevin Brown 12 2.1%
Tino Martinez 6 1.0%
Marquis Grissom 4 0.7%
Al Leiter 4 0.7%
John Olerud 4 0.7%
B.J. Surhoff 2 0.3%
Bret Boone 1 0.2%
Benito Santiago 1 0.2%
Carlos Baerga 0 0.0%
Lenny Harris 0 0.0%
Bobby Higginson 0 0.0%
Charles Johnson 0 0.0%
Raul Mondesi 0 0.0%
Kirk Rueter 0 0.0%