The Baseball Writers Association of America have spoken and whether you agree or disagree with their selections, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York will receive its largest class of new inductees since 1955 – exactly 60 years ago.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that pitching greats Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez topped the BBWAA’s voting with 97.3% and 91.1% respectively.

Also making it into the sacred Halls of Cooperstown as the Class of 2015 are John Smoltz with 82.9% and Craig Biggio with 82.7%, which should also come as no surprise. Biggio, as you may recall, missed out last year by a scant .02% shy of the 75% needed for enshrinement. This equated to exactly two votes shy.

Welcome to Cooperstown Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio!
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But what may come as a surprise is that in spite of all the chest pounding on Twitter by BBWAA members who shared their ballots openly prior to today’s announcement that they had voted for suspected PED users Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, the two remained well short of enshrinement with 37.5% and 36.8% respectively.

When you examine Randy Johnson’s incredible 22-year MLB career it’s hard to believe that he did not become the Hall’s first 100% vote-getter, although the same can be said for Pedro Martinez and his equally remarkable 18-year MLB career. But when you have the likes of Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell also on the ballot, seeing Johnson, Martinez and Smoltz at the top of the list, it tends to support the age-old adage that good pitching trumps good hitting every time – even when it comes to the Hall of Fame.

This is only the third time in MLB history that BBWAA has voted four players into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame Class of 1947 also had four inductees; however, at that time the BBWAA voted once every three years instead of every year. The Hall of Fame Committee changed that criteria in 1946, which took effect in 1947 with the inductions of baseball greats Mickey Cochrane, Frankie Frisch, Lefty Grove and Carl Hubbell. The only other four-inductee year was the Class of 1955 when Joe DiMaggio, Ted Lyons, Dazzy Vance and Gabby Hartnett were voted in by the BBWAA.

The only Hall of Fame class with more than four inductees to be voted in by the BBWAA was the inaugural Class of 1936 in which Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson (no relations) and Honus Wagner became the first to achieve baseball immortality. Although it is mathematically possible for this to happen again, it is highly unlikely that it ever will. That being said, former Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza fell a mere 5.1 percentage points shy of doing so. Had Piazza received 28 additional votes he would have become the fifth inductee in the Class of 2015. Many believe that Piazza will make it into the Hall in 2016 when there will be fewer big-name first ballot candidates to contend with as there have been in the past two years.

The inaugural Hall of Fame Class of 1936.
(Photo credit: Ron Cervenka – Click on image to enlarge)

The Hall of Fame Class of 2015 could have been (and should have been) even larger had the Golden Era Committee voted in one or more of the 10 well-deserving candidates on this year’s Golden Era ballot, such as Dick Allen and Gil Hodges (to name only two). Not selecting even one Golden Era candidate wasn’t just an embarrassment to the Golden Era Committee and the Hall of Fame, it was a travesty to the game itself.

The induction ceremonies for the Class of 2015 will be held in beautiful Cooperstown, New York on July 24-26, 2015 – which just so happens to be the same weekend that the Dodgers will be in New York for their four-game series with the Mets at Citi Field.

…just sayin.