BASEBALL: Seattle's Martinez distant 7th in Hall of Fame voting

NEW YORK ? Barry Larkin has been elected to baseball's Hall of Fame.

The shortstop received 86 percent of the vote in balloting announced today by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, well above the necessary 75 percent. Larkin was on the ballot for the third time after falling 75 votes short last year.

Edgar Martinez, who spent his entire career with the Seattle Mariners, finished seventh in the balloting with 209 votes. He received 36.5% of the vote in his third year on the ballot, which represents a small increase from the 32.9% support Martinez got in 2011 (191 votes).

Martinez's first year on the ballot was for the 2010 voting. He also finished seventh in that debut with 195 votes (36.2%).

Larkin will be inducted on July 22 at Cooperstown along with the late Ron Santo. The Seattle native and longtime Chicago Cubs third baseman was elected last month by the Veterans Committee.

Next year's ballot figures to be the most controversial, with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio and Curt Schilling eligible for the first time.

2012 Hall of Fame Voting
By The Associated Press
573 votes cast, 430 needed
x-Barry Larkin 495 (86.4%)
Jack Morris 382 (66.7%)
Jeff Bagwell 321 (56.0%)
Lee Smith 290 (50.6%)
Tim Raines 279 (48.7%)
Edgar Martinez 209 (36.5%)
Alan Trammell 211 (36.8%)
Fred McGriff 137 (23.9%)
Larry Walker 131 (22.9%)
Mark McGwire 112 (19.5%)
Don Mattingly 102 (17.8%)
Dale Murphy 83 (14.5%)
Rafael Palmeiro 72 (12.6%)
Bernie Williams 55 (9.6%)
x-elected

By receiving fewer than 30 votes (less than 5 percent), Juan Gonzalez 23 (4.0%), Vinny Castilla 6 (1.0%), Tim Salmon 5 (0.9%), Bill Mueller 4 (0.7%), Brad Radke 2 (0.3%), Javy Lopez 1 (0.2%), Eric Young 1 (0.2%), Jeromy Burnitz 0, Brian Jordan 0, Terry Mulholland 0, Phil Nevin 0, Ruben Sierra 0, Tony Womack 0 are no longer eligible for election by the BBWAA.

Source: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/01/09/1780478/baseball-seattles-martinez-distant.html

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