Writers Throw A Shutout At Hall Of Fame Phil Niekro Comes Closest, But For First Time Since ‘71, No One Voted To Shrine

All roads to Cooperstown, N.Y., were closed Monday night - not necessarily to snowbound travelers, but definitely to Hall of Fame hopefuls.

For the first time since 1971, the Baseball Writers Association of America tossed a Hall of Fame shutout when it failed to give anyone the required 75 percent approval for election to baseball’s shrine. Phil Niekro came closest. He was named on 321 of the record 470 ballots, but that was only 68.3 percent.

“I really have nothing to say,” Niekro said.

Tony Perez, with 309 votes (65.7 percent), and Don Sutton, with 300 votes (63.8 percent), were the only other players named on more than 50 percent of the ballots.

“I think it’s getting harder and harder every year to get into the Hall of Fame,” Perez said. “… You have to have really super numbers or whatever. You’ve got to be Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron.”

It will be up to the Veterans Committee, which meets March 5 in Tampa, to deliver an electee for the induction ceremonies Aug. 4. That, however, didn’t seem to bother Hall of Fame president Donald Marr.

“I’m very comfortable with this election,” Marr said. “It just reinforces how difficult it is to get the necessary 75 percent for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. When you think that over 14,000 players have played in the major leagues and only 172 are in the Hall of Fame, it goes to show how unique it is.

“The baseball writers have done a great job and we couldn’t do without them.”

While Niekro, Perez and Sutton improved their percentages slightly from last year, when they were runners-up to the only electee, Mike Schmidt, most of the other prominent players on the 35-man ballot lost ground. Steve Garvey, was fourth with 175 votes. Three-time batting champ Tony Oliva, in his final year of eligibility on the writers’ ballot, had 170. The only others with more than 100 were Jim Rice (166), Bruce Sutter (137) and Tommy John (102).

But while that group would appear to have little hope of attaining the necessary 75 percent, Niekro, Perez and Sutton can take some solace regarding the 1971 baseball writers’ Hall of Fame shutout. That year, Yogi Berra (67 percent), Early Wynn (67) and Ralph Kiner (59) were the three top vote-getters and all eventually were elected.

The Veterans Committee, a court of second chance for players who failed in 15 years on the writers’ ballot, is expected to give strong consideration to 224-game winner Jim Bunning, who missed the necessary 75 percent by four votes in his last year of eligibility on the writers’ ballot in 1988.