01/06/2004 1:18 PM ET
Molitor, Eckersley are Hall bound
Sandberg, Sutter, Rice, Dawson all fall short in vote
By Tom Singer / MLB.com
Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley were both elected in their first year of eligibility.
NEW YORK -- They were both unique, helping define an entire baseball era in their inimitable ways.
Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley now share a heady layer of distinction, as the newest electees for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The results of voting by 506 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, announced exclusively Tuesday afternoon on MLB.com by Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey, confirmed the immortal eminence of two men who took the long road to their places among the game's greatest.
With 380 votes the threshold for the 75-percent plurality needed for election, Molitor was named on 431, or 85.2 percent, of the ballots. Eckersley drew 421 votes, or 83.2 percent.
Molitor spent 21 years accumulating 3,319 hits and 504 stolen bases. The only others in history to combine 3,000 hits with 500 steals are Lou Brock, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins and Honus Wagner, who are in the Hall of Fame, and Rickey Henderson, who remains active.
Final voting results
The complete vote (506 ballots, 380 to gain election, 26 to remain on ballot):
Player Votes %
Paul Molitor 431 85.2
Dennis Eckersley 421 83.2
Ryne Sandberg 309 61.1
Bruce Sutter 301 59.5
Jim Rice 276 54.5
Andre Dawson 253 50
"Goose" Gossage 206 40.7
Lee Smith 185 36.6
Bert Blyleven 179 35.4
Jack Morris 133 26.3
Steve Garvey 123 24.3
Tommy John 111 21.9
Alan Trammell 70 13.8
Don Mattingly 65 12.8
Dave Concepcion 57 11.3
Dave Parker 53 10.5
Dale Murphy 43 8.5
Keith Hernandez 22 4.3
Joe Carter 19 3.8
Fernando Valenzuela 19 3.8
Dennis Martinez 16 3.2
Dave Stieb 7 1.4
Jim Eisenreich 3 0
Jimmy Key 3 0
Doug Drabek 2 0
Kevin Mitchell 2 0
Juan Samuel 2 0
Cecil Fielder 1 0
Randy Myers 1 0
Terry Pendleton 1 0
Danny Darwin 0 0
Bob Tewksbury 0 0
Eckersley squeezed two careers into his 24 seasons, highly respected as an often-dominant right-handed starter with 145 wins for three different teams before he found true dominance with a fourth -- anchoring Oakland's fabled bullpen relays with 256 saves in his first six full seasons as a closer.
Because he is best remembered for slamming doors for Oakland teams that appeared in three consecutive World Series (1988-90), Eckersley is expected to enter the Hall as an Athletic -- the team with which he played for nine years, longer than any other. The mustachioed right-hander with the whip-like delivery and stunning control also pitched for the Indians (three seasons), Red Sox (7 1/2 in two separate stints), Cubs (2 1/2) and Cardinals (two).
Similarly, Molitor likely will be inducted as a Milwaukee Brewer, the team with which he spent his first 15 seasons before three years in Toronto, where he earned his only World Series ring, and three in Minnesota, where the St. Paul native enjoyed a homecoming in the twilight of his career.
Petroskey will solicit Molitor's and Eckersley's opinions on their preferred induction garb, but, as ordained for the first time last year, the ultimate decision rests with the Hall of Fame.
Molitor and Eckersley, teammates as 1988 and 1992 American League All-Stars who met often as adversaries, will meet as soul brothers in Cooperstown, N.Y., on July 25 when they will be inducted into the Hall, bringing to an even 100 the number enshrined in 68 years by the BBWAA.
This marks only the sixth time, since the charter group of 1936, that multiple first-year candidates have been elected to the Hall.
Most recently, both Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett gained entrance in 2001 in their first shots.
While several long-time aspirants made strong moves that bode well for their eventual election, an uncommon number of candidates didn't meet the five-percent minimum and thus will not be included in subsequent BBWAA ballots.
Former Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg, after attracting less than 50-percent support in his first year of eligibility in 2003, leaped to 61.1 percent with 309 votes. In his 11th year on the ballot, Bruce Sutter scored 59.5 percent, while Jim Rice continued his slow climb up the ranks with 54.5 percent.
Conversely, 15 candidates fell short of the 26 votes, or five percent, required to remain on the ballot. They included 13 first-time eligibles -- among them Joe Carter, who despite dominating the game for a decade drew only 19 votes -- and a pair of holdovers: ninth-time candidate Keith Hernandez, whose vote peaked at 10.8 percent in 1998, and Fernando Valenzuela.
The exclusivity of Cooperstown's hallowed turf was hammered home once again by the meager support of several icons of their day, most notably Carter.
A five-time All-Star who appeared in three consecutive postseasons with the Blue Jays, winning back-to-back World Series titles in 1992-93, Carter had 10 seasons of 100-plus RBIs, in six of which he also posted 30-plus homers. But he was named on only 3.8 percent of the ballots. Carter also exceeded 100 strikeouts seven times and had a lifetime average of .259.
Also failing to meet the five-percent minimum were 245-game winner Dennis Martinez, two-time home-run king Cecil Fielder and Cy Young Award winner Doug Drabek.
Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to approval by Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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