Baseball Hall of Fame results 2015: Larry Walker stays on ballot, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson lead class of 4 elected

The Baseball Writer's Association of America inducted four players into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Craig Biggio, John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez, and Randy Johnson are the newest residents of Cooperstown. Congratulations, well deserved on all account in my opinion.

Pedro Martinez is one of my single favorite baseball players of all time for reasons other than the brilliance he produced on the diamond. His personality, passion, and attitude always rung true for me and his statement that "innocence is beautiful sometimes" when referring to his excitement over following the (steroid induced) home run race in 1998 summed up an era and a feeling perfectly and succinctly.

Martinez's 2000 season is one of the best pitching performances of all time. In 217 innings pitched, he finished with a 1.74 ERA, 11.78 K/9 and 1.33 BB/9.

Randy Johnson struck out somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand batters in 2001 (slight exaggeration) and has an argument to being one of the three most intimidating pitchers of all time.

Seriously though, do yourself a favor and spend some time on these guys' Fangraphs page today.

Colorado's lone representative on the ballot, Larry Walker, received 11.8 percent of the vote, surpassing the five percent needed to remain on the ballot long enough for people to listen for another year to an argument that some of us have been making for some time that Peter Gammons recently encapsulated nicely; Coors Field may be more of a detriment than a boost.

But today is a celebration. Two of the greatest pitchers of all time, and two other deserving candidates -- none of whom have been associated with any PED talk -- are now etched indelibly into the collective consciousness of baseball fans for now and forever.

Congratulations gentlemen; the day belongs to you.