Roberto Alomar, a 12-time All-Star second baseman, and Bert Blyleven, a right-handed pitcher who won 287 games, were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in results announced on Wednesday.
Alomar and Blyleven came agonizingly close to being elected last year in the voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America but fell just short of being named on the required 75 percent of ballots cast.
This time voters made 10-time Gold Glove winner Alomar, who was eight votes shy in his first year of eligibility, a resounding choice as he was named on 90 percent of 581 ballots.
“I feel real honored to be part of the Hall of Fame, the elite ball players ever to play the game,” Alomar told reporters in a conference call after he joined Roberto Clemente and Orlando Cepeda as the only Puerto Ricans to be elected.
Blyleven, fifth on the all-time strikeout list, was five votes short last year, but in his 14th and penultimate year of eligibility got 463 votes, almost 80 percent of the ballots.
“It’s been 14 years of praying and waiting. I thank the baseball writers of America for finally getting it right,” Blyleven said.
They will be inducted into the Hall in Cooperstown, New York, on July 24 along with former general manager Pat Gillick, sportswriter Bill Conlin, and longtime Montreal Expos broadcaster Dave Van Horne.
Alomar batted .300 with a .371 on-base average and a .443 slugging percentage over a 17-season career with the Padres, Blue Jays, Orioles, Indians, Mets, White Sox and Diamondbacks.
Alomar, who followed in the footsteps of his father, Sandy Alomar, and brother Sandy Alomar Jr as major league players, featured on two World Series winners in Toronto in 1992 and 1993.
Blyleven pitched in 22 seasons with the Twins, Rangers, Pirates, Indians and Angels and compiled a 287-250 record with a 3.31 ERA, 242 complete games, 60 shutouts and 3,701 strikeouts.
He won World Series rings with Pittsburgh in 1979 and Minnesota in 1987.
The voting produced another negative response to candidates from the so-called steroids era, as Rafael Palmeiro, who slugged 569 home runs and collected 3,020 hits in his career, fell far short.
Palmeiro, who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, received only 64 votes (11 percent) in his first year on the ballot.
Mark McGwire, who slugged 583 career homers and who temporarily held the single-season home run record with 70, saw his percentage of the vote slip from 23.7 percent to 19.8.
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