Baseball Hall of Fame Voting Results: Harold Baines, Lee Smith Elected to Cooperstown

Harold Baines
Harold Baines of the Chicago White Sox and Veteran Leon Cooper before the game against the Minnesota Twins at US Cellular Field on May 07, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. Photo by Mike McGinnis/Getty Images

Two Chicago baseball legends will take their place in Cooperstown next summer.

Former White Sox slugger Harold Baines and former Cubs closer Lee Smith were both elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday by the Today's Modern Game Era committee after being snubbed by baseball writers during several years on the ballot.

"Very shocked," Baines said on a conference call. "I wasn't expecting this day to come."

Smith was a unanimous choice, receiving all 16 votes, while Baines received 12 votes, which accounted for the 75 percent needed for enshrinement. The former White Sox player, coach and current team ambassador/spring training instructor was strongly backed by team owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who was one of the 16 voters on the committee.

"I'm glad he was on that committee this year to help to get into the Hall of Fame," Baines said.

Reinsdorf released an official statement congratulating Baines on his enshrinement on Sunday.

"So happy for Harold. He's a great player and a great human being," Reinsdorf said. "I am so honored that I was a member of the committee. He deserved to be in long ago. I am just so excited.

"Not only was Harold one of my favorite players to watch, but I have nothing but admiration for him as a player and as a human being," he said.

The former outfielder recorded 2,866 hits, 314 home runs and 1,628 RBI during his 21-year MLB career. Baines was a six-time All-Star and a 1989 American League Silver Slugger Award winner.

Smith held the MLB record for career saves (478) at the time of his retirement, having since been surpassed by Trevor Hoffman, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2018 and Mariano Rivera, who will debut on the ballot next year.

The Louisiana native also recorded 1,251 strikeouts, a 3.03 ERA and 71 wins in 1,022 career appearances. Smith was a seven-time All-Star, three-time Rolaids Relief Man Award winner (1991, 1992 and 1994) and a four-time saves leader (1983, 1991, 1992 and 1994).

Fittingly, both players made their MLB debuts for their respective Chicago teams during the 1980 season and will now be enshrined as part of the same Hall of Fame class in 2019.

Former outfielder and long-time manager Lou Pinella fell short of the 12-vote cut with 11. Others on the ballot included George Steinbrenner, Orel Hershiser, Albert Belle, Joe Carter, Will Clark, Davey Johnson and Charlie Manuel, all of whom received less than five votes.

Several other notable players have benefited from committee voting in past years such as Phil Rizzuto and Bill Mazeroski. The Today's Game Era group was created as part of changes to baseball's Veterans Committees in 2014.

"The era committees were established as a sort of a court of appeals for an opportunity in the event that over time it was felt that maybe somebody slipped through the cracks," Hall president Jeff Idelson said. "And in the case of someone who received 6 percent of the vote in the BBWAA election, the reason that may have happened could be for many, many reasons."

Editor's Note: there was a typo in the spelling of Baines' name during the original publishing of this article that has since been corrected.

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