Baseball Hall of Fame results are in

[bachslunch]

Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I for one think both were eminently deserving. Congratulations to both!

Voting results:

Elected
90.0% Roberto Alomar (523)
79.7% Bert Blyleven (463)
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Not elected, still on the ballot (except for Dave Parker, who was in his last eligible year)
62.1% Barry Larkin (361)
53.5% Jack Morris (311)
45.4% Lee Smith (263)
41.7% Jeff Bagwell (242)
37.5% Tim Raines (218)
32.9% Edgar Martinez (191)
24.3% Alan Trammell (141)
20.3% Larry Walker (118)
19.8% Mark McGwire (115)
17.9% Fred McGriff (104)
15.3% Dave Parker (89)
13.6% Don Mattingly (79)
12.6% Dale Murphy (73)
10.0% Rafael Palmeiro (64)
5.2% Juan Gonzalez (30)
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Not elected, dropped off the ballot
4.8% Harold Baines (28)
4.6% John Franco (27)
2.1% Kevin Brown (12)
1.0% Tino Martinez (6)
0.7% Marquis Grissom (4)
0.7% Al Leiter (4)
0.7% John Olerud (4)
0.3% BJ Surhoff (2)
0.2% Bret Boone (1)
0.2% Benito Santiago (1)
0.0% Carlos Baerga (0)
0.0% Lenny Harris (0)
0.0% Bobby Higginson (0)
0.0% Charles Johnson (0)
0.0% Raul Mondesi (0)
0.0% Kirk Rueter (0)

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Some thoughts on the non-elected folks:

--Jeff Bagwell's debut was pretty good at 41.7%. Of the newbies, Larry Walker was next at 20.3%. Two folks with steroid issues, Rafael Palmiero (10%) and Juan Gonzelez (5.2%), barely survived the cut.

--Barry Larkin got a decent vote surge this year and looks to have a great shot at election next year -- and I say deservedly. Note that by far the best candidate to come up next year will be Bernie Williams, and he's not likely to get very far -- no way I'd vote for him.

--Tim Raines also saw a respectable vote surge. It may be a while before he gets elected, but his chances are improving yearly. I very much think he belongs in as well.

--Jack Morris and Lee Smith spun their wheels, picking up little or no support. Smith has pretty much stayed put the last several years he has been on the ballot, though he does have about five more years left -- am thinking his chances aren't that good. Morris only has two more years of regular eligibility and probably won't make it in at this rate. Personally, I'm okay with Smith getting in, though I'm not sure how far above borderline he really is. I'd likely vote for him. Morris is very overrated, and I'm really on the fence with him -- though if he got elected, he wouldn't be the worst pitcher in. I'd be very hard-pressed to consider voting for Morris if I had a vote.