Former Phillies pitcher Pedro Martinez is headed to the Hall of Fame – although my guess is he’ll be donning a Boston Red Sox cap on his plaque.
Martinez, along with Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, and Craig Biggio, are headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame as the class of 2014.
Pedro spent part of one season with the Phillies, 2009, his last, and helped them in the postseason. During that year he made nine regular season starts and three in the playoffs. He received 91.1 percent of the vote from the BBWAA.
Johnson is probably the best left-hander of all time (apologies to Steve Carlton, but it’s not close). He spent most of his time in the AL, but during his stint in the NL, he still managed to dominate the Phillies (and everyone else). In 20 career starts against Philadelphia, he was 11-3 with a 2.76 ERA and struck out 152 in 133 innings.
Smoltz also gets in on the first ballot. He’s one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all time – if not THE best – and was so dominant he also crushed it as a closer for an extended period.
Against the Phillies, Smoltz was just 13-13 with a 3.67 ERA. He also added 35 saves against the Phils. During the postseason, he went 15-4 with a 2.67 ERA.
Biggio gets into Cooperstown after falling just shy last time around. He hit .283 against the Phillies in his career, but will be best remembered for destroying their playoff chances in 2005.
Biggio hit a three-run homer off Billy Wagner with two outs in the ninth inning on September 7, 2005, and the Houston Astros completed a three-game sweep over the Phillies to push them out of contention for the Wild Card that year.
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What bothers me about this whole thing is that Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez were not unanimously selected. How is that possible? I get how it happens – voters keep other players on the ballot in hopes that they get in down the line, therefore surrendering a vote for a guy they know will get in this year (like these two). That doesn’t make it right. In fact, it’s downright ridiculous.
Both guys were the most dominant pitchers of their generation and deserve 100 percent of the vote. How Pedro only got 91.1 boggles the mind.
