Major League Baseball has announced that Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez, and Mike Mussina, as well as Harold Baines and Lee Smith, have been named as the 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame class. CBS Sports reports the class features some of the greatest players of all time, including star closer Mariano Rivera, designated hitter Edgar Martinez, and two of the greatest starting pitchers, with Halladay and Mussina.
The voters made the perfect decision. There is not a better group of players worthy of entry. Rivera became the first player to ever be unanimously voted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
A sign of respect to the greatest closer and all-time saves leader with 652. Edgar Martinez had been robbed in previous votes. Not this time.
Roy Halladay is posthumously awarded
Halladay became one of the game's most dominant pitchers, ending his career with a 203-105 record and a 3.38 ERA. Halladay tragically passed away before he could be voted into Cooperstown. Martinez was facing his final year of eligibility.
Martinez has become one of the best designated hitters to ever play the game and was instrumental in the Seattle Mariners success in the 1990s. Martinez closed out his career with 2,247 hits, 309 home runs, and 1,200 RBIs. He had a batting average of .312 and an OBP of .418, the highest among designated hitters in MLB history.
Mussina ended up receiving 76.7 percent of the votes. His entrance was questionable, but at the end, he was rightfully given a spot in the Hall of Fame. He ended up with a career record of 270-153 and an ERA of 3.68. He pitched at the height of the steroid era.
Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens saw a decline
According to SB Nation, Curt Schilling received the highest number of votes among those who did not get in.
He received 60.9 but needed 75 percent to get in. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens didn't see their voting percentage increase much from last year. Clemens ended up with 59.5, while Barry Bonds came away with only 59.1 percent. The debate will continue over whether players like Schilling, Clemens, and Bonds deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.
The Baseball Writers' Association of America should be proud of who they decided to let enter the hallowed walls of the Hall of Fame and will be celebrated this coming season. The Baseball Writers' Association of America should also be proud of making Mariano Rivera the first player to be unanimously voted in.