McGwire, Clark bypassed again in Hall of Fame voting

Ex-A’s star McGwire, former Giants slugger Clark bypassed again

Mark McGwire and Will Clark came up short again on Hall of Fame balloting Sunday, but Bud Selig and John Schuerholz gained entry by an overwhelming margin.

Neither McGwire — who hit 583 home runs and helped the A’s beat San Francisco for the World Series crown in 1989 — nor former Giants star Clark, who had 340 homers, got more than five votes.

Former commissioner Selig oversaw baseball during a time of transformation and turmoil — wild cards and a ballpark boom, the cancellation of a World Series and the Steroids Era. For much of his reign, though, there was one constant: those first-place Atlanta Braves, built by general manager Schuerholz.

Selig didn’t see his honor as a sure thing.

“It reminded me of many a ninth inning when I used to pace around,” the onetime owner of the Milwaukee Brewers said on a conference call.

Schuerholz was picked by all 16 voters on a veterans committee at the winter meetings in suburban Washington. Selig was listed 15 times.

“The ultimate of honors,” Schuerholz said.

It took 12 votes for election, and former player and manager Lou Piniella was third with seven. Harold Baines, Albert Belle, former Dodgers great Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson and George Steinbrenner also were on the ballot considered by the Today’s Game Era panel

Selig became the fifth of 10 commissioners to reach the Hall. He will be enshrined July 30 in Cooperstown, New York — on his 83rd birthday.

Schuerholz took over as GM of the Braves in the winter of 1990. Atlanta had never won even a single playoff game in its 25-season existence before going from worst-to-first in its first year under Schuerholz, starting an unprecedented run of 14 straight division titles.

A person familiar with n the negotiations says free agent outfielder and seventime All-Star Matt Holliday and the New York Yankees have agreed to a $13 million, one-year contract. Holiday hit .246 with 20 homers and 62 RBIs this year.

Andrew McCutchen, n Chris Sale, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander could be available for the right price. As baseball teams gathered for the start of the winter meetings Monday, star players were dangled along with the usual crop of free agents. The unsigned group includes closers Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon; slugger Edwin Encarnacion, major league home run leader Mark Trumbo and outfielders Jose Bautista, Ian Desmond and Dexter Fowler.

World Cup

Lara Gut won what the weather turned into a World Cup super-G sprint Sunday at Lake Louise in Alberta. The Swiss ski star claimed a third career super-G victory at the Alberta resort after previous wins in 2013 and 2014. Gut finished in 1 minute, 2.68 seconds. American ski star Lindsey Vonn, who swept all three races in 2015, is sidelined with a broken arm.

Miscellany

Montreal-based FieldTurf, the country’s leading maker of artificial sports turf, sold more than 1,000 fields to towns, schools and teams nationwide after its executives knew they were falling apart faster than expected and might not live up to lofty marketing claims, according to an investigation by NJ Advance Media.