New York: Randy Johnson was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday along with Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio, marking the first time since 1955 that four players were selected in one year.
Johnson and fellow pitchers Martinez and Smoltz gained entry on their first attempt, while versatile hitter Biggio made it on his third try in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Johnson, an intimidating force on the mound, whose six-foot-ten-inch frame brought him the nickname “Big Unit”, was the leading vote-getter of the group after being named on 534 of 549 ballots for 97.3 per cent of the vote.
The hard-throwing lefty, who won 303 games during a 22-year career primarily spent with the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks, is second all-time in strikeouts with 4,875.
Martinez, a three-time Cy Young Award winner with the Montreal Expos and Boston Red Sox, was a dazzling starter who deftly featured a sizzling fastball and jaw-dropping change-up.
Smoltz, the NL Cy Young Award winner in 1996 with the Atlanta Braves, for whom he spent most of his 21-year career, is the only Major League Baseball pitcher with more than 200 wins and 150 saves and went 15-4 in the postseason.