Smith, Baines head to Hall of Fame
Today’s Game Era committee takes baseball shrine in a new direction
It has become harder in recent seasons for relief pitchers to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and designated hitters have historically had an extremely high bar to clear. But Cooperstown opened its doors to both Sunday with the election of Lee Smith and Harold Baines by the Hall of Fame’s Today’s Game Era committee.
Smith, a closer primarily for the Chicago Cubs and the
St. Louis Cardinals, was unanimously elected by the 16-person committee. Baines, a designated hitter who played primarily for the Chicago White Sox, received the minimum 12 votes required for induction.
Lou Piniella, a longtime manager and outfielder, fell one vote short of election, and George Steinbrenner, Orel Hershiser, Albert Belle, Joe Carter,
Will Clark, Davey Johnson and Charlie Manuel all received fewer than five votes.
Smith’s Hall of Fame case relied almost exclusively on saves and reputation. He had
478 saves in 18 seasons, with a
2.93 ERA that was 32 per cent better than average when adjusted for his home park and the era. He struck out 1,251 batters in 1,289 1/3 innings but had just
29.0 career wins above replacement.
Baines, who had 2,866 hits in 22 seasons, is the second Hall of Famer, after Frank Thomas, to have played more than
50 per cent of his games at designated hitter. Baines drove in 1,628 runs and scored 1,299 while hitting 384 home runs. He batted .289 for his career, with a .356 on-base percentage, .465 slugging percentage and 38.7 WAR.
Both were wildly popular players, especially in Chicago, but the decision by the Hall’s board-appointed panel — which included longtime White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, as well as Hall members Greg Maddux, Roberto Alomar, Joe Morgan, Bert Blyleven, Pat Gillick, Tony La Russa, John Schuerholz, Ozzie Smith and Joe Torre — served as a stark contrast to that of the Baseball Writers Association of America, which never came close to electing either player when they were eligible on the Hall’s main ballot.
Smith stayed on the writers’ ballot for 15 seasons, the maximum at the time, with a low vote share of 29.9 per cent and a high of 50.6 per cent, well short of the 75 per cent needed for election.
Baines was on the ballot just five times, never receiving more than 6.1 per cent. He fell off the ballot after he failed to get five per cent of the vote in 2011.
With Smith and Baines set for induction in July, there could be a relatively crowded field of closers and designated hitters. Mariano Rivera, the New York Yankees’ longtime relief ace, is considered a lock on the writers’ ballot thanks to his stellar postseason resumé. Edgar Martinez, widely considered baseball’s finest pure DH, has an excellent shot at election after receiving 70.4 per cent on last year’s ballot. The results of the writers’ election will be released Jan. 22.