Bagwell, Pudge, Raines elected to Hall of Fame

Cooperstown has opened its doors to three more.

Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Ivan Rodriguez were elected into the baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday after securing the required 75 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

The trio will be inducted into Cooperstown July 30, along with former commissioner Bud Selig and Atlanta Braves vice chairman John Schuerholz, who were both elected in December by the Today's Game Era ballot.

During his 15 seasons in the big leagues, all spent with the Houston Astros, Bagwell won the Rookie of the Year in 1991, National League MVP in 1994, was a four-time All-Star, and owned a career OPS of .948. His 449 home runs and 1,529 RBIs rank first in Astros franchise history, while his career WAR of 79.6 was 14.5 higher than Hall of Famer and long-time teammate Craig Biggio.

"It's a weird thing to be a Hall of Famer. I wrote it on a ball tonight. It was kind of crazy," Bagwell said, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com.

Raines spent 23 seasons in the show, playing for six different teams, and was a seven-time All-Star, 1986 National League batting champion, and 1987 All-Star game MVP. 'Rock' hit a career .294/.385/.425 with 170 home runs, 113 triples, 980 RBIs, and 808 stolen bases, which ranks him fifth all-time behind Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock, Billy Hamilton, and Ty Cobb.

"I am extremely honored and humbled to have received the call today that I will be enshrined into the National Baseball Hall of Fame," Raines said in a statement. "It's the perfect way to cap my 23-year career."

Rodriguez, arguably the great catcher of all-time, was a 14-time All-Star, 13-time Gold Glove winner, and 1999 American League MVP during his 21 years in the bigs. His career slash line of .296/.334/.464 is accompanied by 311 home runs, 1,332 RBIs, and a caught-stealing percentage of 46 percent. He led his respective league in the category eight times.

"I had trouble sleeping the last three days," Rodriguez said, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. "I was anxious. We had some big hopes, but didn't know what was going to happen."