Harold Baines was given a save as big as any Lee Smith ever posted.
In a vote sure to spark renewed cries of cronyism at Cooperstown, Baines surprisingly was picked for the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday after never coming close in any previous election.
“Very shocked,” the career .289 hitter said on a conference call.
Smith, who held the major league record for saves when he retired, was an easy pick when the Today’s Game Era Committee met at the winter meetings.
It took 12 votes for election by the 16-member panel — Smith was unanimous, Baines got 12 and former outfielder and manager Lou Piniella fell just short with 11.
George Steinbrenner, Orel Hershiser, Albert Belle, Joe Carter, Will Clark, Davey Johnson and Charlie Manuel all received fewer than five votes.
Smith and Baines both debuted in Chicago during the 1980 season. Smith began with the Cubs and went on to record 478 saves while Baines started out with the White Sox and had 2,866 hits.
Baines had 384 home runs and 1,628 RBIs in a 22-year career — good numbers, but not stacking up against the greats of his day. He never drew more than 6.1 percent of the vote in five elections by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, far from the 75 percent required.
“I wasn’t expecting this day to come,” the six-time All-Star said.
You and a whole lot of other people, buddy. The list of people who have a vastly better case for the Hall of Fame than Harold Baines – a fine hitter who got a lot of hits – starts with the likes of Lou Whitaker, Bobby Grich, Ted Simmons, Dick Allen, Minnie Minoso, and goes from there. Luis Tiant? Albert Belle? Graig Nettles? Dale Murphy? We could play this game all day. If Edgar Martinez gets shafted again, it will be time to burn the place down. Jay Jaffe, Grant Brisbee, David Schoenfield, Dave Sheinin, Ben Lidbergh, and Rob Neyer have more.
I remember an opposing batter saying that when Lee Smith threw the ball ‘it looked like an aspirin.”