Schmidt Is Voted Into Hall of Fame

Mike Schmidt, the former third baseman who combined power and grace for the Philadelphia Phillies, was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility Monday, but 300-game winners Phil Niekro and Don Sutton fell far short again.

A three-time most valuable player in the National League, Schmidt was named on a record 444 of the record 460 ballots submitted by 10-year members of the Baseball Writers Assn. of America. Schmidt won 10 Gold Gloves for fielding superiority and hit 548 home runs, seventh on the all-time list.

His vote percentage of 96.52 was the fourth-highest, surpassed only by Tom Seaver’s 98.94, Ty Cobb’s 98.23 and Hank Aaron’s 97.83.

Schmidt is only the 10th third baseman elected to the Hall and only the 26th player elected in his first year of eligibility.

His former Philadelphia teammate, Steve Carlton, was the 25th and only player elected last year.

There were 38 eligible players, but only Schmidt surpassed the required 345 votes or 75%.

Niekro, a 318-game winner in his third year of eligibility, drew 286 votes.

Sutton, whose 324 victories in 23 seasons are more than 43 of the 53 pitchers in the Hall, received 264 votes in his second year on the ballot.

Tommy John, a 288-game winner who pitched for the Dodgers and Angels, as did Sutton, received only 98 votes in his first year of eligibility.

Former Boston Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice, also in his first year, got 137 votes, and former New York Yankee catcher Thurman Munson, in his 15th and last year, received 30.

Pete Rose, the all-time hits leader who is suspended from baseball for gambling and is ineligible for the Hall, received 14 write-in votes, which will not be listed in official results because write-in votes are not permitted.

“Pete Rose deserves to be in the Hall,” said Schmidt, a teammate of Rose on two of Philadelphia’s World Series teams in the ‘80s.

Now a resident of Jupiter, Fla., Schmidt attended a news conference at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia and said his solo election “magnified the honor immensely. I’m just now starting to get goose bumps.”

Of the nine third basemen previously enshrined, only Brooks Robinson, Eddie Mathews and Pie Traynor were elected by the writers. The others were selected by various committees.

“Brooks Robinson is the greatest defensive third baseman in history,” said Schmidt. “I would say my numbers are a little better than the other third basemen offensively.”

Schmidt had a lifetime batting average of .267.

He holds the record for home runs and runs batted in by a third baseman, 1,595, and led the National League in home runs a record eight times.

“If you could equate the amount of time and effort put in mentally and physically into succeeding on the baseball field and measured it by the dirt on your uniform . . . mine would have been black,” he said.