There wasn't much suspense when the Baseball Hall of Fame voting was announced Tuesday. The big guys got in: Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Robin Yount.
Catcher Carlton Fisk missed by just 43 votes and will surely make it next year.
Ryan is clearly the choice of the people, one of the most popular players of all time.
John Ralph, director of media relations with the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., is well aware of Ryan's popularity.
"I worked for the Texas Rangers and saw what kind of crowds Nolan Ryan draws," Ralph says. "Even at 3 o'clock in the morning when we were on the road and were coming into a town. He pitched in four decades and is appealing to all ages. The kids of today still remember him."
Ryan missed unanimous selection on the Hall of Fame ballot by just six votes. A total of 497 ballots were cast by 10-year members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, and 491 voted for Ryan. That's the second-highest percentage, 98.79, in history behind Tom Seaver's 98.84 percent in 1992.
CNN/SI conducted an instant poll on its web site, asking this question: If you could vote for only one of the following Hall of Fame candidates, who would it be? Included were the five top first-timers - Ryan, Brett, Yount, Fisk and Dale Murphy - plus holdover Tony Perez.
The results were amazing. Ryan received 72 percent of the votes, 7,443 of 10,267 received. Brett got 14 percent, Murphy and Perez 4 percent each, Fisk 3 percent and Yount 2 percent.
People like strikeout pitchers and home run hitters, and Ryan is the greatest strikeout pitcher of all time. His career strikeout total of 5,214 is more than 1,500 whiffs ahead of No. 2 Steve Carlton, who had 4,136.
He led the league in strikeouts seven times, but won 20 games just twice - 1973 and 1974 with the California Angels.
Among the six writers not voting for Ryan was the well-known Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News. Conlin said he didn't vote for Yount, either.
Conlin's take on Ryan: "I deferred my first vote for Nolan Ryan because of two sets of numbers: 32 and 5-2. Despite winning 324 games, Ryan lost 292. All those decisions, all those teams and he was just 32 games over .500. Roger Clemens would have to reel off about five straight 20-loss seasons to come close to that.
"Tommy John was 57 games over .500, and the 288-game winner is not going to Cooperstown any time soon.
"The one chance Ryan had to win a pennant, he coughed up a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning of Game 5 against the Phillies in the 1980 NLCS. Seven no- hitters? They count on his record as W's, just as his historic 5,714 strikeouts count as outs. The hard currency of pitching is wins vs. losses, and the Hall of Fame is cluttered with men who were infinitely better than plus-32."
Conlin has a different perspective and had the right to vote for up to 10 players on the ballot.
Baseball writers have the toughest writing jobs in sports, according to what I hear from editors around the country. You're nearly always at the ballpark past midnight, and baseball players are among the most difficult to interview. I've voted on a lot of sports awards and have cast some strange votes.
Crowds of upwards to 40,000 are expected for induction ceremonies Sunday, July 25, in Cooperstown. Housing is nearly impossible to get and has been for months.
A normal year brings a turnout of around 15,000. In 1995, Mike Schmidt and Richie Ashburn attracted around 40,000 when they went in.
People lucky enough to get tickets to the Hall of Fame Game on Monday, July 26, will see Ryan's Rangers play Brett's Kansas City Royals. The two teams asked to play in the game since everybody figured Ryan and Brett would be in town for the inductions.
Major league teams don't relish exhibition baseball teams in the middle of a season, so clearly this will be a special year.
Doubleday Field seats about 9,850, and the game is always sold out. Tickets go on sale April 10 in person at Cooperstown, and mail orders must be received by April 17. You can look online at www.baseballhalloffame.org.
Let's take a quick look at the 2000 Hall of Fame ballot. The top first-timers will be starting pitcher Jack Morris (254-186 record) and relievers Jeff Reardon (367 saves) and Goose Gossage (310 saves).
Fisk looks like a cinch to be elected next January and maybe Perez. Reardon is No. 4 in career saves and could slip in.
Write-in votes aren't counted, but the banned Pete Rose received 16 write-ins this time. If he is ever cleared by the Commissioner's Office, he'll sail into the Hall of Fame. But that's a whole different story.
Bob Colon can be reached via e-mail at bcolon@oklahoman.com.
Archive ID: 748125
