LAS VEGAS — Harold Baines has been a punch line before. At a presidential debate in 2000, George W. Bush, the former owner of the Texas Rangers, invoked him when asked to name the biggest mistake of his adult life: “I signed off on that wonderful transaction — Sammy Sosa for Harold Baines,” Bush said. Now Baines is a Hall of Famer and Sosa is an afterthought, his steroid-era home run binge largely discredited. Baines will make a speech this summer in Cooperstown, N.Y., thanks to a panel vote on Sunday that no one saw coming. Voters on the Today’s Game Era Committee elevated Baines and Lee Smith to the Hall of Fame, with Smith collecting all 16 votes and Baines receiving 12 of 16, meeting the 75 percent threshold for induction.

Source: New York Times December 11, 2018 00:56 UTC