Written by Jerry Crasnick at ESPN.com
Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday, while Vladimir Guerrero and Trevor Hoffman fell just short of the 75 percent threshold required in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Bagwell got 86.2 percent of the vote, and Raines got 86 percent. Rodriguez got 76 percent, receiving four more votes than the necessary 332 of 442.
“I don’t even know how I’m supposed to react,” Bagwell said on a conference call following the announcement. “It’s been a whirlwind. I could not be more excited.”
Hoffman was five votes short, and Guerrero was 15 short.
Roger Clemens (54.1 percent) and Barry Bonds (53.8 percent) continued to gain ground in the voting but also fell short of election. Clemens received 45.2 percent of the vote a year ago, while Bonds received 44.3 percent.
Edgar Martinez was next after Guerrero at 58.6 percent, followed by Clemens, Bonds, Mike Mussina at 51.8 percent, Curt Schilling at 45 percent, Lee Smith at 34.2 percent and Manny Ramirez at 23.8 percent.
This year’s ballot marks only the seventh time since 1955 that the Hall has welcomed a class of at least three members. But it has happened three times in the past four years.
In 2014, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Frank Thomas went into Cooperstown as a group. The following year, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio entered the Hall of Fame.
Bagwell won Rookie of the Year and MVP awards during 15 seasons with the Houston Astros, from 1991 through 2005. He made four All-Star teams, won three Silver Slugger awards and hit 449 home runs before an arthritic right shoulder forced him to retire at age 37.
He recorded two 30-homer, 30-steal seasons, making him the only first baseman to be part of that club. He ranks 38th in MLB history with 79.6 wins above replacement and 39th with a .540 career slugging percentage.
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