By GINA PACHERILLE
COOPERSTOWN
Roberto Alomar, considered by some to be the best second baseman in history, maybe an inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the time you read this.
Pitcher Bert Blyleven, on the ballot for the 14th and final time, was being mentioned in the same breath, although perhaps not quite as emphatically.
The results of the 2011 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot were expected to be announced Wednesday, Jan. 5, after this edition went to press. The ballot featured 33 players; 14 holdovers from previous elections and 19 newcomers.
Any candidate who receives votes on 75 percent of the ballots – Alomar and Blyleven were one vote short last year – earns entry into baseball’s Valhalla.
Alomar played 17 seasons as a second baseman for the Padres, Blues Jays, Indians, White Sox, Orioles, Mets and Diamondbacks, is facing his second year on the ballot. He was the 1992 ALCS MVP, the 1998 All-Star Game MVP and he won two World Series with the Blue Jays.
Blyleven pitched 22 seasons for the Twins, Rangers, Angels, Indians and Pirates. He was named the Rookie Player of the Year in 1970 by The Sporting News and the Comeback Player of the Year in 1989.
The inductees will be introduced by Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the Hall of Fame board, Thursday at a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria.
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