Baseball Hall Of Fame Inductees

Photo courtesy of: Baseballhall.org

Recently, the National Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF) announced the 2017 class that included players Jeff Bagwell from the Houston Astros, Tim Raines from the Montreal Expos and Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez from the Texas Rangers.

These elite classes of professional baseball players are inducted through a voting process that mandates a need for 332 votes from a total of 442 casted ballots.

Each of the three players in the 2017 class led successful careers of their own and are well-deserving of the honor.

Bagwell, who lead the class with 381 votes in favor, was a powerful first baseman known for his clutch 449-career home runs. Raines, second in votes with 380, was a long-time speedy player who retired at the age of 43 with 808 stolen bases.

Last, but not least, is first-year ballot inductee, Pudge Rodríguez. Rodriguez was a fiery catcher for the Texas Rangers, known not only for his bat but for his defensive play that landed him in the top 40 all-time for runners caught stealing with 661.

With another class of inductees without a Kansas City Royal, we continue to hope to see the next potential Royal reach this great honor. As of today, there is only one Royals player inducted into the Hall of Fame: the legendary George Brett.

The KC Royals' situation is quite similar to the Braves Athletic Hall of Fame (BAHOF) of Ottawa University. For baseball being the longest-tenure sport on campus, there are only two representatives inducted into BAHOF.

C. Beau Basler, class of 1997 inducted in 2014, and Dustin Herron, class of 2001 inducted in 2015. These are the two lone baseball players of hundreds to come through Ottawa to receive the honor.

In the midst of the National Baseball Hall of Fame inducting their class of 2017, we look to see when there will be another wave of our own Braves Baseball players to score the BAHOF honor from Ottawa University.