Harold Baines' MLB Hall Of Fame Induction Surprises, Lee Smith Also Inducted

The National Baseball Hall of Fame announced Sunday that Harold Baines and Lee Smith were voted into Cooperstown by the 16-member Today’s Modern Game Era committee. The latter was a unanimous choice, while the former received 12 votes, which is the minimum required to make the cut to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Baines, a six-time All-Star, finished his career with 2,866 hits, 384 home runs and 1,628 RBI. According to USA Today, the former Chicago White Sox slugger was strongly backed by the owner of his former franchise, Jerry Reinsdorf, who is part of the 16-member committee.

The former White Sox player spent most of his career as a designated hitter, playing just two innings in the field in the final nine seasons of his career. He finished with 1,643 games as the designated hitter, the second-highest number in Major League Baseball (MLB) history just behind David Ortiz, who had 2,029 games.

Unlike Smith’s induction, which was unanimously voted on, Baines’ name was received with widespread surprise as he was continually snubbed by baseball writers. The 59-year-old hitter spent just five years on the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) ballot, where he never received more than 6.1 percent of the vote. There were many who questioned his induction by the committee, arguing there were a number of more deserving candidates.

“BBWAA members spend so much time and effort agonizing over their Hall of Fame ballots. Fans and media members spend so much energy arguing about each candidate. And then a 16-person committee just decides Lee Smith and Harold Baines are now Hall of Famers. What a broken system,” Baseball Pro editor Aaron Gleeman wrote.

“Harold Baines was on the ballot as recently as 2011 and received 4.8 percent of the vote. It was his fifth straight year with a vote total below 10 percent. Why, just seven years later, do 16 people get to decide that he's now a Hall of Famer when 95.2 percent of the voters didn't think he was one?” he added.

Lou Piniella, Albert Belle, Joe Carter, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Charlie Manuel, and George Steinbrenner were also on the Today’s Modern Game Era ballot but did not receive the required number of votes to make the cut for the Hall of Fame.