For the first time in 60 years, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducts its biggest class. Four baseball stars were being inducted in the newest batch. Three of these were all pitchers headed by Randy Johnson who played majority of his career with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The other three were pitchers Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz and second-base Craig Biggio.
All four players except Biggio made it to the Hall of Fame on the first year of their eligibility. Many baseball fans were somehow disappointed that the Hall of Fame committee have sidestepped the San Francisco Giants superstar Barry Bonds. Playing the left field position, Bonds who is now in the third year of his eligibility only manage to garner 36.8 percent of total ballot this year, a player has to achieve at least 75 percent in order to be inducted.
The last time the Baseball Writers Association of America inducted four players to the hall of fame was in 1955. The 1955 class of Hall of Fame includes Yankees Joe DiMaggio, White Sox Ted Lyons, Cubs Gabby Hartnett and Brooklyn Robins Dazzy Vance.
Johnson who had a baseball career spanning 22 years, he is the second player next to Nolan Ryan when it comes to career strikeouts. Johnson earned his 300th game milestone when he was playing with the San Francisco Giants.
Martinez is the second player to be inducted to the Hall of Fame who came from Dominican Republic. The first being Giants superstar Juan Marichal who was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1983. Martinez was well remembered during his stay with the Boston Red Sox. He also has three Cy Young Awards to his name.
Smoltz is best known as the only pitcher in the big league history to record at least 200 wins and 150 saves. Smoltz will be joining his "Big Three" teammates from Atlanta Braves, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux, both were inducted last year.
For Biggio, this is his third try before he was inducted. He is best known as one of the 11 players in the big league history to earn 3,000 hits and 1,800 runs.
