Fred McGriff elected to Hall of Fame

Former first baseman Fred McGriff was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday after being voted in by the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee. McGriff was a unanimous selection by the 16-person committee, which submits its ballots on players whose primary contributions to the sport of baseball came in 1980 or later. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Don Mattingly were among those who did not receive the 12 votes (75 percent) necessary to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. This marked McGriff's first appearance on a small-committee ballot after he failed to be inducted into the Hall in 10 tries on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot. McGriff, 59, played 19 seasons, spending time with the Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a five-time All-Star, a three-time Silver Slugger and a World Series champion with the Braves in 1995. In 2,460 career games, McGriff hit .284 with 493 home runs and 1,550 RBIs. He finished with a total of 2,490 hits and scored 1,349 runs in 10,174 plate appearances. --Field Level Media