Dude, It's Been a Long Wait, But The Fu Manchu Got In! Plus, Thoughts on Others...

It's only fitting, on his ninth try, former reliever, Goose Gossage finally got the call from the Hall. He received nearly 86 percent of the vote to finally get elected into the Hall of Fame.

From Boston.com: Gossage was named on 466 of 543 ballots (85.8 percent) cast by 10-year members of the BBWAA.

"It was very emotional, I'll tell you, off the charts," said Gossage. "I can't describe the feeling. I can't lie. There's been some frustration and some disappointment."

Jim Rice just missed the cut-off for getting inducted by 16 votes.

Andre Dawson was third with 358 votes (65.9 percent), followed by Bert Blyleven at 336 (61.9 percent), Lee Smith at 235 (43.3 percent) and Jack Morris at 233 (42.9 percent).

Personally, the problem I see is that the voters and experts keep comparing these guys to the obvious larger sluggers and pitchers of today, which cannot be tangible just because the game is totally different, as is technology, training techniques and yes, drugs, nutrition and supplements have crept in. These factors I believe have helped to dilute a lot of stats, but the bottom line is that the aformentioned men were the best of their era, and deserve to be honored.