The Baseball Writers of America elected three pitchers and an infielder to the Hall of Fame as Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and John Smoltz all made it on the first ballot, while Craig Biggio gets elected on his third try. Congratulations to those four deserving candidates.

It is also interesting to note that players with a PED taint seem to do worse in the overall election than they do in the the pre-published ballots:

Clemens received 37.5 percent and Bonds 36.8 percent. Clemens, the only seven-time Cy Young winner, started at 37.6 percent in 2013 and dropped to 35.4 last year; Bonds, the only seven-time MVP, began at 36.2 and fell to 34.7.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were running at about 43% in the Gizmo. It may be an age bias, where writers more likely to use the internet are more likely to vote for these players, or that people who are more willing to discuss their votes lean in that direction.

The first time I took my daughter to a baseball game was a contest between the Red Sox and the Indians with Pedro on the mound against Bartolo Colon. Courtesy of Peter Gammons, we had great seats, 11 rows behind home plate. Both pitchers were dealing that day, but Pedro went the distance for the 3-2 win, walking one and striking out ten. It was a real pleasure to watch both work that day, but Pedro was just a bit more precise in putting pitches where he wanted.

My Randy Johnson story involves the 1995 ALDS. I was at home watching game five, and my wife came in near the end as Randy Johnson was pitching in relief. The broadcast did an extreme close up of Johnson, to which my wife said, “I’m scared!” I sure hitters felt the same way.