It’s Boggs and Sandberg

Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg were elected to the Hall of Fame today, two very deserving inductions. Goose Gossage and Bert Blyleven, two very deserving players, received 55% and 41%, respectively. Jim Rice and Andre Dawson, also good candidates for the Hall, both received over 40% of the vote.

For reasons I can’t fathom, Bruce Sutter came in third, at 67%. Sutter was obviously a great reliever, and absolutely unhittable in 1977 (maybe the best year I ever witnessed by a reliever). But he pitched only 1,042 innings in his career, with only 168 Win Shares. I don’t know if that’s the lowest total of any Hall of Famer, but it is close. Let’s hope the voters come to their senses by next year.

For your edification, I have posted a list of all Hall of Fame players and their Win Shares totals at baseball graphs.