Alomar, Blyleven enter MLB Hall of Fame

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven became Hall of Famers on Wednesday, the two-time World Series champions easily elected after narrow misses last year.

Sluggers Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Jeff Bagwell and Juan Gonzalez came nowhere close. Hall voters, for now, seem intent to prevent the cloud of the Steroids Era from covering Cooperstown.

Alomar was picked on 90 percent of the ballots by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The 12-time All-Star won a record 10 Gold Gloves at second base, hit .300 and helped the Toronto Blue Jays win titles in 1992-93.

Blyleven, 59, was picked on 79.7 percent — it takes 75 percent to reach the shrine. The great curveballer won 287 games, threw 60 shutouts and is fifth with 3,701 strikeouts. This was his 14th time on the ballot and his career stats have gotten a boost in recent years by sabermetricians who have new ways to evaluate baseball numbers.

“It’s been 14 years of praying and waiting,” Blyleven said in a conference call. “And thank the baseball writers of America for, I’m going to say, finally getting it right.”

Palmeiro, McGwire, Bagwell and Gonzalez fared poorly, with BBWAA members apparently reluctant to choose bulky hitters who posted big numbers in the 1990s and 2000s.

“The writers are saying this was the Steroids Era …,” Blyleven said. “They’ve kind of made their point. It doesn’t surprise me.”

Palmeiro was listed on just 64 of a record 581 ballots (11 percent) in his first try despite lofty career numbers. He is joined by Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray as players with more than 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.

But Palmeiro failed a drug test and was suspended by Major League Baseball in 2005, a few months after he wagged his finger at members of Congress and told them: “I have never used steroids. Period.”

He recently reiterated the anabolic steroid that caused his positive test came in a vitamin vial given to him by teammate Miguel Tejada.

Bagwell got 41.7 percent in his first year on the ballot. His career stats are among the best for first basemen since World War II: .297 batting average, .408 on-base percentage; .540 slugging percentage; 449 home runs; over 1,500 RBIs. He was Rookie of the Year, an NL MVP and a Gold Glove winner.

Bagwell never tested positive, there were no public allegations against him and he was adamant that he never used illegal drugs. Still, many voters and fans aren’t sure how to assess the big numbers.

McGwire got 19.8 percent, a drop from 23.7 percent last year. It was his fifth time on the ballot; the first since admitting he took steroids and human growth hormone.

Juan Gonzalez, two-time AL MVP implicated by Jose Canseco in steroids use, received 30 votes, just above the 5 percent threshold to remain on the ballot next year.

Alomar and Blyleven will be joined by executive Pat Gillick at the induction ceremonies July 24 in Cooperstown. Gillick, who helped earn his place with a trade that brought Alomar to Toronto, was picked last month by the Veterans Committee.

Smart, graceful and acrobatic on the field, Alomar also was guilty in one of the game’s most boorish moments: He spit on umpire John Hirschbeck during a dispute in 1996 and was suspended. They later made up and Hirschbeck supported Alomar’s bid for the Hall.

“I regret every bit of it. I apologized many times to John,” he said.

Said Hirschbeck: “I’m very, very happy for him. It’s overdue. I’m not going to comment on why he didn’t get elected the first time. But I forgave him. Maybe the rest of the world has,” Hirschbeck told The Associated Press by telephone.