Molitor, Eckersley selected for Hall

Ronald Blum

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 | 11:20 a.m.

NEW YORK -- Hitting star Paul Molitor and reliever Dennis Eckersley were elected to baseball's Hall of Fame today 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).

Second baseman Ryne Sandberg was third with 309 votes, 61.1 percent, up from 49.2 last year.

He was followed by Jim Rice (276), Andre Dawson (253), Rich Gossage (206), Lee Smith (185) and Bert Blyleven (179).

Pete Rose, ineligible for the ballot because of his lifetime ban, received 15 write-in votes, three fewer than last year. Rose, who admitted in his soon-to-be-released autobiography that he bet on Cincinnati while managing the Reds, 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 (0.4 percent).

Fifteen players will be dropped from next year's ballot because they failed to be selected on at least 5 percent of the votes. That group includes first baseman Keith Hernandez (22 votes), who was on the ballot for nine years, and pitcher Fernando Valenzuela (19), who was on for two.

With quick wrists and smarts at the plate, Molitor ranks eighth on the career list with 3,319 hits. He batted .306 with 1,782 runs and 1,307 RBIs in 21 seasons for Milwaukee (1978-92), Toronto (1993-95) and Minnesota (1996-98).

A seven-time All-Star, Molitor was the MVP of the 1993 World Series for the Blue Jays. He hit .418 in his two World Series appearances, and will begin his first season as batting coach for Seattle this year.

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 is third on the career saves list with 390, trailing Lee Smith and John Franco.

Induction ceremonies are July 25 in Cooperstown, the small village in upstate New York.