Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven became Hall of Famers on Wednesday, the two-time World Series champions easily elected after narrow misses last season. Sluggers Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Jeff Bagwell and Juan Gonzalez came nowhere close. Hall voters, for now, seem intent to prevent the cloud of the Steroids Era from covering Cooperstown. Alomar was picked on 90 percent of the ballots by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The 12-time All-Star won a record 10 Gold Gloves at second base, hit .300 for his career and helped the Toronto Blue Jays win titles in 1992-93. Blyleven was picked on 79.7 percent -- it takes 75 percent to reach the shrine. The great curveballer had 287 wins, 3,701 strikeouts and 60 shutouts. This was his 14th time on the ballot and his career stats have gotten a boost in recent years by sabermetricians who have new ways to evaluate baseball numbers. Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hof11/news/story?id=5991808
It's hard to believe Blyleven didn't make the Hall all these years. The guy had the most wicked curve ball of all pitchers in his era. 3.7K strikeouts is no trivial feat.