Each year, the BBWA gets together and starts the process to vote in a new group of baseball’s elite to the MLB Hall of Fame. This year was a CROWDED year of amazing careers to consider, and out of the group we got some big names headed to Cooperstown. These names will also likely have a pretty profound effect on Bunt’s checklist next year, so here is a breakdown.

Randy Johnson – Pitcher

Its hard not to love Randy Johnson, a guy who was known as much for his stature as it was his dominating slider. He was so menacing that many batters named him as the pitcher they least wanted to face, and it should be no surprise he is on his way to the hall.

John Smoltz – Pitcher

A poster child for consistency, Smoltz joins his Braves brethren in Glavine and Maddux who were elected last year. He is a pitcher that was known both as a starter and a reliever, and was dominating in both facets of the game. Deserving indeed.

Craig Biggio – Infielder

Back when Biggio played middle infield, it wasnt the same power laden part of the roster that it has become in recent years. He is a hitter with speed on the base-paths and high average, as well as one of the better fielding 2Bs of all time.

Pedro Martinez – Pitcher

Its odd, because he is just as remembered for his meltdown against the Yankees in the playoffs vs the Aaron Boone led Yankees win, as he is for his top performance over a number of years. His fiery personality is only matched by his fireball fastball.

What to expect:

I would guess that there will be releases sometime today or this week that will commemorate their induction, as well as other cards when the ceremony actually happens. Both will be quite valuable sets of cards as there are a lot of team and player collectors that will want them.

UPDATE: Bunt has released 3 of the 4 newest members. They do not yet have rights to Biggio, but are working on getting them from what the article says.