2 first-timers elected into Hall of Fame

NEW YORK — Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley were elected to baseball's Hall of Fame on Tuesday in their first year of eligibility.

Molitor was picked on 431 of 506 ballots (85.2 percent) cast by reporters who have been members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America for 10 or more years. Eckersley was selected on 421 ballots (83.2 percent).

To gain election, a player must be chosen by at least 75 percent of the voters (380).

Molitor, a clutch hitter who played nearly half his games at DH, was with family and friends in Minneapolis when he got a telephone call with the good news.

"There was a huge sigh of relief on my part," Molitor said. "The room kind of erupted with some screaming and applause. It was pretty emotional. I don't think it's one of those moments you can really plan for."

Eckersley was in Boston and was overwhelmed. "I need to regroup here. I feel like a child," he said.

Second baseman Ryne Sandberg was third with 309 votes, 61.1 percent, up from 49.2 last year. He was followed by Bruce Sutter (301), Jim Rice (276), Andre Dawson (253), Rich Gossage (206), Lee Smith (185) and Bert Blyleven (179).

Eckersley joins Hoyt Wilhelm and Rollie Fingers as the only pitchers who were primarily relievers elected to the Hall by the BBWAA. Wilhelm got the call in 1985, Fingers in '92. Eckersley started for a decade before becoming a dominant closer.

"There's no way I would have gotten into the Hall just strictly as a reliever," he said. "Being a starter had to have something to do with distancing me from some of the other relievers."

Dawson said Molitor and Eckersley were deserving.

"Those guys had exceptional careers," the 1987 NL MVP said. "But who's to say that you can only put a couple players in a year? The ballot itself seems to be so sacred these days. I'm still waiting for someone to explain why, if you can vote for X-amount of players, that you only put a couple in every year."

Pete Rose, ineligible for the ballot because of his lifetime ban, received 15 write-in votes, three fewer than last year. Rose, who admits in his soon-to-be-released autobiography that he bet on the Cincinnati Reds while managing them, must be reinstated by December 2005 to appear on the BBWAA ballot.

In the 13 seasons he has been ineligible because of the ban, he has been written in on 230 of 6,171 ballots (3.7 percent).