Ex-Carp pitchers Ono, Sotokoba elected into Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame

For the second straight season, the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame was left seeing red.

The Hall opened its doors to three more players this year, chief among them former Hiroshima Carp pitchers Yutaka Ono and Yoshiro Sotokoba, who joined former high school standout Kazuo Fukushima as the newest members of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, it was announced on Friday.

Ono was selected by the Players Selection Committee, garnering 273 votes, comfortably above the 75 percent threshold (243 votes) he needed for induction.

"I'm so pleased, but at the same time overwhelmed," Ono said at a news conference at the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, which is located at Tokyo Dome. "Looking back, I joined the Hiroshima Toyo Carp as a test player and went through so many things, and now this day has come. I'm extremely pleased."

Sotokoba was chosen from the Expert Division, collecting exactly the 29 votes he needed, while Fukushima was selected from the Special Selection Committee and received 13 votes, two more than he needed for induction.

Among those missing out in the Players Selection Committee vote were former Seibu Lions and Daiei Hawks outfielder Koji Akiyama, who received 235 votes and former Yokohama BayStars and Seattle Mariners reliever Kazuhiro Sasaki, who received 230. Yakult Swallows catching great Atsuya Furuta garnered 147 votes in his first year on the ballot.

Ono pitched for the Carp for 22 seasons, ending his career with a 148-100 record to go along with 138 saves. The left-hander finished his career with a 2.90 ERA and 1,733 strikeouts, was a 10-time All-Star and won the Sawamura Award in 1988, when he went 13-7 with a 1.70 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 183 strikeouts over 185 innings. Ono's 13 wins that season remain the fewest by a Sawamura winner.

He played alongside Sachio Kinugasa and Koji Yamamoto during the golden age of the Hiroshima franchise, and helped guide the Akaheru (red helmets) to five Central League pennants and Japan Series victories in 1979, '80 and '84.

"Mr. (Takeshi) Koba, who was the manager at that time, Koji Yamamoto and Sotokoba, my senior teammates who are actually here today, the rest of my teammates, and the ballclub supported me really well, and I have so much appreciation for them." Ono said. "As I got the nod today, I would like to work harder and contribute to baseball even more."

The first three years of the 57-year-old Ono's career overlapped with the final chapter of Sokotoba's tenure with the team.

Sotokoba was 131-138 in 20 years with the Carp and was named to six All-Star teams in addition to being the 1975 Sawamura Award winner. The righty finished his career with a 2.88 ERA and 1,678 strikeouts over 2,419 1/3 innings.

"I never thought I would be inducted into the Hall of Fame," Sotokoba said. "So I'm extremely surprised. I've been involved in baseball for a long time and I want to reiterate that it was really great to have played for the Hiroshima Carp."

Sotokoba recorded his first professional victory by throwing a no-hitter against the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium on Oct. 2, 1965. Nearly three years later, Sotokoba struck out an NPB record 16 batters while tossing a perfect game against the Taiyo Whales on Sept. 14, 1968. He threw his third and final no-hitter against the Yomiuri Giants on April, 4, 1972.

Sotokoba's standout season came in 1975, when he made 40 starts and had a 20-13 record with a 2.95 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 193 strikeouts and was an All-Star as well as a CL Best Nine selection.

"Although what I can do may be limited, I'd like to continue to contribute to baseball and its development for as long as I physically can," the 67-year-old Sotokoba said.

The selection of Ono and Sotokoba marks the second consecutive year a pair of players who spent their entire careers with the Carp were chosen for induction at the same time. Former Hiroshima pitchers Manabu Kitabeppu and Tsunemi Tsuda were inducted in 2012.

Overall 18 Carp have been elected to the Hall of Fame, including Tetsujin Kinugasa (1996), former holder of the world's consecutive games streak (2,215), and Yamamoto (2008), Mr. Akaheru himself and Japan's current World Baseball Classic manager.

"Last year it was Kitabeppu and Tsuda, and this year Sotokoba and Ono, "Yamamoto said. "Two years in a row, players from the Hiroshima Carp have been inducted. So it feels like there is a strong wind behind the team. "Obviously I'm from this team, so hopefully that helps us win the WBC."

Fukushima, who rounds out the class, was a high school pitcher for Fukuoka's Kokura Junior High, which has since been remained Kokura High School and led the school to summer National High School Baseball Tournament titles in 1947 and 1948.

Staff writer Kaz Nagatsuka contributed to this report.

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Larkin elected to Hall of Fame; Morris misses out once again

NEW YORK — Barry Larkin had no idea back in 1982 that he would become a baseball Hall of Famer thanks to Bo Schembechler.

Smooth as silk: Former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday in his third year on the ballot. AP

A two-sport standout in his senior year of high school, Larkin went to the University of Michigan on a scholarship to play defensive back for Schembechler's Wolverines. When he arrived in Ann Arbor, Larkin learned he was being redshirted.

"I was a better football player than a baseball player at the time," Larkin recalled. "And that was influential because I just worked on my baseball talent, just that alone. And that was an eye-opener because I got so much better."

So much better that he was elected to the Hall of Fame on Monday with plenty of room to spare. The former Cincinnati Reds shortstop was chosen on 495 of 573 ballots (86 percent) in voting announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, well above the necessary 75 percent. Larkin was on the ballot for the third time after falling 75 votes short last year.

He will be inducted July 22 in Cooperstown along with the late Ron Santo, elected last month by the Veterans Committee.

"I'm just incredibly, incredibly moved by this whole experience and so humbled by the experience and so excited about being the newest member of the Hall of Fame," Larkin said on a conference call.

His election came in the final year before the Steroids Era becomes the main focus in balloting.

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio and Curt Schilling are eligible for the first time next year.

Jack Morris followed Larkin with 382 votes (67 percent), missing by 48 votes on his 13th try but up sharply from 54 percent last year. Morris, the ace of three World Series winners, finished with 254 victories and was the winningest pitcher of the 1980s. His 3.90 ERA, however, is higher than that of any Hall of Famer.

He has two chances left on the BBWAA ballot. Gil Hodges (63.4 percent in 1983) has the highest percentage among players who never gained election.

Playing from 1986-04 — all with his hometown Reds — Larkin hit .295 with 198 home runs, 960 RBIs, 2,340 hits and 379 stolen bases. A 12-time All-Star, he won the 1995 NL MVP award, nine Silver Slugger trophies and three Gold Gloves.

He helped the Reds win the 1990 World Series and in 1996 became the first shortstop to have 30 homers and 30 steals in a season.

Larkin's brother Mike, who was a year older, was recruited by Schembechler but decided to follow coach Gerry Faust from Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati to Notre Dame.

"So Bo told my mother that he was going to get her next son," Larkin said.

Larkin became a baseball star at Michigan, which retired his No. 16 two years ago. He developed under coach Bud Middaugh and assistant Danny Hall, who is now Georgia Tech's coach.

"Those two guys really beat it in my head the correct way to play the game," Larkin said. "Because neither was a home run hitter, neither one was one of the most gifted, if you will, they were both very good at the Xs and Os, at the hitting behind the runner, at the mental part of the game."

Cincinnati, which drafted Larkin in the second round in 1982, took him with the fourth overall pick in 1985. Schembechler, who became president of the Detroit Tigers, used to kid Larkin about his career path.

"Bo always told me he would strike me out, anyway. That was Bo's way of saying, 'Congratulations kid, you did it,' " Larkin remembered. "He would always tell me: 'You'll be back. You'll miss football. Nobody comes to the University of Michigan to play baseball,' is what he used to say."

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Cubs great Santo elected to Hall of Fame posthumously

DALLAS — Ron Santo always kept rooting for the causes dearest to him — for his Chicago Cubs to win the World Series, for doctors to find a cure for diabetes and for him to reach the Hall of Fame.

In at last: The late Ron Santo, a former third baseman for the Chicago Cubs, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee on Monday. AP

On Monday, Cooperstown finally came calling.

The barrel-chested third baseman who clicked his heels in victory was elected to the Hall, overwhelmingly chosen by the Veterans Committee nearly a year to the day after he died hoping for this very honor.

"It's really exciting because so many years that we had parties over to his house in spring training saying this is the year, I would tell him this is the year you're going in," said Hall of Fame teammate Billy Williams, a member of the voting panel.

"The one thing, of course, is he's not here to enjoy it, but his family will. He long awaited this, and we're all happy. I know I'm happy, his family is happy, the fans of Chicago are happy," he said.

Santo was a nine-time All-Star, hit 342 home runs and won five Gold Gloves. He was a Cubs broadcaster for two decades, beloved by the home crowd for the way he eagerly cheered for his favorite team on the air, hollering "Yes! Yes!" or "All right!" after good plays and groaning "Oh, no!" or "It's bad" when things went wrong.

Shortly after the announcement, Santo's flag — white with blue pinstripes, plus his name and No. 10 — was flying from the center pole atop the scoreboard at Wrigley Field.

"There was always kind of a missing piece of the puzzle of Cubs' history," team owner Tom Ricketts said.

Santo breezed in with 15 votes from the 16-member panel that met at baseball's winter meetings. It took 75 percent — 12 votes — to get chosen.

"I've got tears in my eyes writing this: Congrats to the Santo family on Ron's election to MLB Hall of Fame. A good day to be a Cub fan," tweeted Chicago-area rocker Billy Corgan, frontman for the Smashing Pumpkins.

Santo died Dec. 3, 2010, from complications of bladder cancer at age 70. He had diabetes, which eventually cost him both legs below the knees, and worked tirelessly to raise millions for research into the disease.

Williams was on the line when Santo's widow, Vicki, got the congratulatory phone call.

"Ron has passed, but it was always his dream, to even have this come to him after his passing. It just shows you can't give up," she said during a conference call from Arizona.

"All he said (was) I hope I get in in my lifetime, that's certainly a reasonable request for anybody who gets an honor as special as this one. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be," she said. "With his lifetime every disappointment that came along, he was very disappointed."

Said daughter Linda Brown: "I know, even if my dad were here today, he would never reflect on any of the wrongdoings, so to speak. . . . There would be no bitterness, it would just be him being happy, and I believe he is."

Santo joined former Cubs teammates Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins and Williams in the Hall. That famed quartet did most everything at the Friendly Confines through the 1960s and early 1970s except bring a World Series to the ivy-covered ballpark.

"With Ernie, myself and Fergie, those players he played with . . . to hear this kind of news today that he's inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame is really gratifying because so many times that we talked about it, it's a place he wanted to be," Williams said.

Santo will be inducted into Cooperstown on July 22, along with any players elected by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Jan. 9. Bernie Williams joins Jack Morris, Barry Larkin and others on that ballot.

"This is a great day for baseball and for Cubs fans everywhere," Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "Ron was a staple of the Cubs' experience every single day for decades."

Jim Kaat was second with 10 votes, Gil Hodges and Minnie Minoso each drew nine and Tony Oliva got eight on the 10-person Golden Era ballot. Buzzie Bavasi, Ken Boyer, Charlie Finley, Allie Reynolds and Luis Tiant each received under three votes.

Santo never came close to election during his 15 times on the BBWAA ballot, peaking at 43 percent — far short of the needed 75 percent in his last year of eligibility in 1998.

DALLAS — Terry Francona is swapping jobs with Bobby Valentine.

In another winter meetings trade, ESPN said Monday that Francona will become an analyst for its Sunday night game telecasts next season, joining Dan Shulman and Orel Hershiser in the broadcast booth.

Valentine worked for ESPN in 2003 and rejoined the network in September 2009. He broadcast Sunday night games this year, then was hired last week as manager of the Boston Red Sox, who parted ways with Francona after the season.

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