Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez, Roy Halladay and Mike Mussina joining Hall of Fame

[BeyondGeography]

Closer Mariano Rivera, designated hitter Edgar Martinez and starting pitchers Roy Halladay and Mike Mussina will be the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Rivera became the first player to be unanimously voted into the Hall.

The four were voted into the hall by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Tuesday. Of the four, Halladay and Mussina were first-round picks, though only Mussina was touted for stardom from the start of his career.

Before Rivera, the highest vote percentage belonged to Ken Griffey Jr. in 2016, when he received 99.3 percent (named on 437 of 440) ballots. Martinez, in his final year on the ballot, received 85.4 percent, culminating a late surge of support. He received just 27 percent four years ago, when his election felt like a futile possibility. Halladay, who died in 2017 when the plane he was piloting crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast, also received 85.4 percent of the vote, joining Rivera as a first-ballot inductee. Mussina received 76.7 percent of the vote, clearing the 75 percent threshold by seven votes.

"Amazing. ... It was a beautiful, long career," Rivera told MLB Network.

More at http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25826814/mariano-rivera-edgar-martinez-roy-halladay-mike-mussina-elected-baseball-hall-fame

[MLAA]

1. Glad schilling wasn't voted in.

[Kurt V.]

4. +1

[luvs2sing]

2. Happy for all of them..

But very sad that Omar didn’t make the cut again this year. 😢

[ADX]

3. Congratulations to Mariano, the greatest closer in baseball history...

...congrats also to Edgar Martinez, Roy Halladay and Mike Mussina...