Wednesday’s biggest loser in the Baseball Hall of Fame voting was Roberto Alomar, who received the most votes ever for a first-year candidate without actually getting inducted to Cooperstown, earning 73.7%, and finishing just eight votes shy. Sure, he’ll probably get in next year, or at least sometime soon thereafter, but the guy had over 2700 hits, over 200 home runs, won the Gold Glove playing second base 10 times and took home four Silver Slugger awards (to go along with a pair of World Series titles) -- that’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer resume there.
Roberto Alomar On Not Being Voted Into Hall Of Fame: ‘I Was Shocked’
So how is Alomar handling being snubbed? Is he spittin’ mad? No, at least not yet. Newsday’s Ken Davidoff went to Alomar’s house shortly after today’s announcement, and found him to be more surprised than anything (collected from a series of Daivdoff tweets).
Standing here in Roberto Alomar's home. He is clearly disappointed and surprised, but kept a strong front and is optimistic for next year.
"I'm surprised. I'm surprised. I'm real, real, real surprised. Sometimes you have to deal with the good and the bad.
"I was shocked. It was shocking. Everyone's saying, 'You should be in there,' and you're not there."
I asked Alomar if he thought the Hirschbeck incident hurt him: "I think that's maybe an excuse to use. I think they should look at the numbers and my statistics, what I did on the field. And I think I did a good job."
Alomar ended the day with something positive, though: congratulations for Andrew Dawson, the only player voted in today. “I think Andre Dawson deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. I feel real happy for him. He’s been waiting for such a long time.”
See More:
