Former Expos star leads Hall of Fame class

Tim Raines, Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez elected to Cooperstown

NEW YORK (AP) — Bags and Rock and Pudge are heading to Cooperstown.

Former Montreal star Tim Raines, along with Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez, has been elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame, earning the honour as Trevor Hoffman and another Expos great, Vladimir Guerrero, fell just short.

In his 10th and final year of eligibility, Raines earned 380 votes for 86 per cent. He was just the fifth player elected in his final year of eligibility after Red Ruffing (1967), Joe Medwick (1968), Ralph Kiner (1975) and Jim Rice (2009).

“Last night was probably the worst night I’ve had out of the 10 years,” Raines said. “I knew I was close, but I wasn’t sure.”

Raines started at 24.3 per cent in 2008 and jumped from 55 per cent in 2015 to 69.8 per cent last year. He said modern metrics boosted his chances from days when voters considered primarily whether players had 3,000 hits, 500 homers or 300 wins.

“I think social media played a big role,” he said. “There are some things that I did that a lot of the guys that’s already in the Hall of Fame didn’t actually do. So I think it kind of made them look at me a lot closer and they looked a lot deeper, and I think the more they looked, I think the better it turned out for me.”

On the ballot for the seventh time after falling 15 votes short last year, Bagwell appeared on 381 of 442 ballots for 86.2 per cent. Players needed 332 votes this year.

“Anxiety was very, very high,” Bagwell said. “It’s a weird thing to be a Hall of Famer. I wrote it on a ball tonight. It was kind of crazy, so it was cool.”

Rodriguez, at 45 the youngest current Hall member, received 336 votes (76 per cent). He is the 52nd player elected in his first year of eligibility, joining Johnny Bench in 1989 as the only catchers voted in on their first ballot.

“Johnny Bench was my favourite player growing up,” Pudge added.

Players will be inducted July 30 during ceremonies at Cooperstown along with former Commissioner Bud Selig and retired Kansas City and Atlanta executive John Schuerholz, both elected last month by a veterans committee. Some voters said the election of Selig, who presided over the Steroids Era, transformed their view of whether tainted stars should gain entry to the Hall.

Bagwell was a four-time All-Star for Houston, finishing with a .297 batting average, 401 homers and 1,401 RBIs. Among 220 Hall of Fame players, he is the 50th whose entire big league career was with one club.

Raines, fifth in career stolen bases, was a seven-time all-star and the 1986 NL batting champion who compiled a .294 average and .385 on-base percentage. He spent 13 of 23 big league seasons with the Expos, and joins Andre Dawson and Gary Carter as the only players to enter the Hall representing Montreal.

Rodriguez was a 14-time all-star — mostly with the Texas Rangers — who hit .296 with 311 homers and 1,332 RBIs.

Hoffman was five votes short and Guerrero 15 shy.