The Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2011 this afternoon, and, as many expected, both Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven secured the 75 percent of votes required for election. Alomar, who really should have been elected last year, appeared on 90 percent of the record 581 ballots this time and received the third-most votes of any player in history. (Alomar, by the way, received 73.7 percent just a year ago. Did that many voters hold the John Hirschbeck incident against him, or did many consider him a Hall of Famer, but not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, as if that honor came with a bigger plaque?) Blyleven, meanwhile, made it on his fourteenth try with 79.7 percent: He received just 17.5 percent the first time his name appeared on the ballot, a total that rose to 74.2 percent last year, when he missed out by just five votes.
Some other notable vote totals: Barry Larkin earned 62.1 percent, up from the 51.6 he got last year, his first on the ballot. (One would imagine, with a gain like that, it won’t be long before he’s inducted.) Jeff Bagwell received 41.7 percent, the highest total of anyone on the ballot for the first time this year, but, sadly, a figure that’s lower than it would have been if certain voters didn’t have certain suspicions. And Rafael Palmiero, also in his first year on the ballot (and at the mercy of writers who clearly frown on players associated with performance-enhancing drugs) got just 11 percent.
Finally, some former Mets and Yankees who received votes: Tim Raines (218 votes, 37.5 percent); Don Mattingly (79 votes, 13.6 percent); John Franco (27 votes, 4.6 percent); Kevin Brown (12 votes; 2.1 percent); Tino Martinez (6 votes, 1 percent); Al Leiter (4 votes, 0.7 percent); and John Olerud (4 votes, 0.7 percent). B.J. Surhoff, by the way, received two votes. Players with less than five percent of the vote are dropped from the ballot.
Alomar, Blyleven Elected to the Hall of Fame [Baseball Hall of Fame]