4 Elected To Baseball Hall For 1st Time In 60 Years

Three pitchers who combined to win nine Cy Young Awards and a member of Major League Baseball’s 3,000 Hit Club were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz became the first trio of pitchers honored by the BBWAA in the same election. Each was on the ballot for the first time, which created a precedent with three first-ballot candidates elected in consecutive years, following that of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas in 2014. Craig Biggio, who missed election last year by two votes, gained entry in this year’s election in his third time on the ballot. It's been 60 years since four players have been inducted in the same year.  The last time was in 1955 when Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Dazzy Vance, Ted Lyons were inducted. The Hall of Fame now has 310 elected members, including 215 players, of which 119 have come through the BBWAA ballot.

Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and Craig Biggio will be inducted July 26, 2015 as part of the Hall’s Induction Weekend July 24-27 in Cooperstown.