Brett, Ryan and Yount Form an Impressive Group Heading to Cooperstown

Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount were voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday--making up the Hall’s biggest and perhaps greatest group of first-time candidates since the original quintet, led by Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, was chosen in 1936.

Ryan, a hard-throwing pitcher whose most untouchable records are his 5,714 strikeouts and seven no-hitters, was named on 98.79% of the ballots--one vote short of beating former teammate Tom Seaver’s 98.84% in 1992 for the highest total in history.

Brett, who is 13th on the all-time hit list with 3,154 and whose .390 batting average in 1980 is the highest in a full season since 1941, was named on 98.19%, the fourth-highest total.

Yount, who had 3,142 hits and was a most valuable player as a shortstop and center fielder, was named on 77.46%.

All three have Southland ties:

* Yount was the City Section player of the year at Woodland Hills Taft High in 1973.

* Brett was an All-Southern Section shortstop at El Segundo High in 1971 and ’72.

* And Ryan, of course, played eight seasons with the Angels, 1972-79, winning 19 games or more four times and pitching four no-hitters, two during the 1973 season.

After signing with the Houston Astros as a free agent after the 1979 season, Ryan pitched his fifth no-hitter against the Dodgers, breaking Sandy Koufax’s major league record, on Sept. 26, 1981.

To gain election, players had to be named on 75% of the ballots cast by 10-year members of the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America. There were a record 497 ballots cast, with Ryan named on a record 491, Brett 488 and Yount 385.

“It’s obviously an honor that I was thought of on that level,” said Ryan, who held or shared 53 major league records when he retired in 1993 after a 27-year career.

Though he never won a Cy Young Award and his .526 winning percentage is the lowest among 300-game winners, Ryan was a near-unanimous choice. He was 324-292 in a career that also included stints with the New York Mets and Texas Rangers. His Hall plaque, he said, will probably show him in a Ranger cap.

Brett, a 13-time All-Star third baseman who hit .305 in a 21-year career with the Kansas City Royals, said he was stunned by his vote total.

“I was flabbergasted,” he said. “It just knocked me on the floor. Obviously, I was very, very pleased. But, in all honesty, I was just as pleased for Robin.

“Of all the guys I played against, probably Robin is the guy I enjoyed playing against the most.”

Like Brett, Yount was preceded to the major leagues by an older brother, Larry Yount having blown out his arm after making only one pitch for the Houston Astros in 1971.

Brett’s brother, Ken, played for 10 teams during a mostly undistinguished 14-year career that ended in 1981.

And also like Brett, Yount played his entire career with one team, batting .285 in 20 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers.

“I’m not one that ever takes this kind of stuff too seriously,” Yount said, “but my stomach’s kind of been in knots for three or four days, so maybe somebody’s telling me this is pretty good stuff.”

His high school coach, Ray O’Connor, said Yount really blossomed after spending the summer of ’72 with his brother, who was playing in the minors.

“As a junior, Robin wasn’t anything exceptional,” O’Connor said, “but when he came back after that summer he told me, ‘These guys that are in triple A, one step away from the major leagues, aren’t a hell of a lot better than me.’

“It was hard to imagine--I had a number of kids who were every bit as good as him at the 11th-grade level, maybe even better--but the difference was, this kid had a tremendous amount of heart.”

Brett’s high school coach, John Stevenson, said it has been incorrectly reported that Brett wasn’t a great high school player.

“That’s [baloney],” said Stevenson, who next month begins his 40th season at El Segundo. “The bigger the pressure situation, the better he would do. His flair for the dramatic was always there. He might only get one hit in a game, but it would be a three-run home run in the last inning.”

Brett’s greatest asset, Stevenson said, was his resiliency.

“He used failure as a friend rather than an enemy,” the coach said. “It made him better the next day, rather than causing him to put pressure on himself. He never brought yesterday’s game to the ballpark.”

Ryan, Brett and Yount are scheduled to be enshrined July 25.

They are the first trio of first-timers to be elected since Ruth and Cobb were joined by Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson in the Hall’s original class 63 years ago. Since then, no more than two first-timers had been taken in any one year, the last time in 1990, when Jim Palmer and Joe Morgan made it.

Twenty-nine first-time candidates have been voted in since the original election. Among those who did not make it in their first try: Joe DiMaggio, Roy Campanella and Harmon Killebrew.

The last to do it before Tuesday was Mike Schmidt in 1995.

Carlton Fisk, also eligible for the first time this year, fell 43 votes shy of the required 373 with 66.4%. Two-time National League MVP Dale Murphy, another first-timer, received 96 votes.

Tony Perez missed in his eighth try with 302, or 60.76%. Others falling short included Gary Carter (168 votes), Steve Garvey (150), Jim Rice (146), Bruce Sutter (121) and Jim Kaat (100).

Mickey Lolich, who won 217 games and was MVP of the 1968 World Series, and Minnie Minoso, who batted .298 during his career, missed in their 15th and final time on the ballot. Minoso got 73 votes, Lolich 26.

Pete Rose, still not on the ballot because of his ban from baseball, received 16 write-in votes.

The Hall’s membership of 240 probably will increase again March 2 when the Veterans Committee votes in Tampa, Fla. Among those expected to draw support: Bill Mazeroski, Orlando Cepeda, Dom DiMaggio and former manager Dick Williams.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

George Brett

3B, 1B

Kansas City

Seasons: 21

Hits: 3,154

Home runs: 317

Avg.: 305

MVP: 1980

*

Nolan Ryan

Pitcher

Angels, Texas

Houston, N.Y. Mets

Seasons: 27

Record: 324-292

Strikeouts: 5,714

No hitters: 7

Cy Young: None

*

Robin Yount

CF, SS

Milwaukee

Seasons: 20

Hits: 3,142

Home runs: 251

Avg.: 285

MVP: 1982-1989

Fast Facts

HIGHEST VOTING PERCENTAGES

Player, Year: Pct.

Tom Seaver, 1992: 98.84

Nolan Ryan, 1999: 98.79

Ty Cobb, 1936: 98.23

George Brett, 1999: 98.19

Hank Aaron, 1982: 97.83

MOST FIRST-TIME CANDIDATES

5--1936 (Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner)

3--1999 (Ryan, Brett, Yount)

2--1962 (Jackie Robinson, Bob Feller)

2--1982 (Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson)

2--1989 (Johnny Bench, Carl Yastrzemski)

2--1990 (Jim Palmer, Joe Morgan)