Randy Johnson leads 2015 baseball Hall of Fame class
Randy Johnson, winner of five Cy Young Awards as his league’s top pitcher, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame along with three other former Major League players in voting results announced on Tuesday.
Fellow pitchers Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz, and versatile hitter Craig Biggio were also elected to the baseball shrine in Cooperstown, New York, in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
It was the largest number of players voted into the Hall of Fame since the Class of 1955 when Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Ted Lyons and Dazzy Vance were inducted.
Johnson, an intimidating force on the mound whose 6-foot-10 frame brought him the nickname “Big Unit,” was the leading vote-getter of the group, named on 534 of 549 ballots for 97.3 percent of the vote.
The hard-throwing lefty, who won 303 games in his 22-year career primarily spent with the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks, is second in all-time strikeouts with 4,875.
Martinez, a three-time Cy Young winner with the Montreal Expos and Boston Red Sox, was a dazzling starter who deftly featured a sizzling fastball and a jaw-dropping changeup among his arsenal.
The slightly-built Dominican right-hander led his league in earned-run average five times and finished his 18-season career 219-100 for a .687 winning percentage.
Smoltz was the NL Cy Young Award winner in 1996 with the Atlanta Braves for whom he spent most of his 21-year career. He is the only pitcher in history with over 200 wins and 150 saves, and amassed a postseason record of 15-4.
Biggio, who missed election last year by two votes, received 82.7 percent of the vote to comfortably surpass the required 75 percent.
The multi-positioned star, who played catcher, second base and outfield in his 20 seasons with the Houston Astros, collected 3,060 hits in his career.