COOPERSTOWN, N.Y., July 25 (UPI) -- Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley were inducted Sunday into the baseball Hall of Fame.
Both were elected to the Hall on their first ballots. Molitor and Eckersley each played more than two decades in the majors. Molitor went into the Hall of Fame as a Milwaukee Brewer.
Eckersley entered the Hall of Fame as a member of the Oakland Athletics.
Molitor played 21 seasons (1978-98), including 15 (1978-92) with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was a seven-time All-Star and was MVP of the 1993 World Series when Toronto beat the Philadelphia Phillies. he finished his career with 3,319 hits along with a .306 batting average with 234 homers and 1,307 RBI.
Eckersley, who was both the American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner in 1992 and ended his career leading the AL in saves, pitched for 24 seasons, first as a starter, but most of the time as a reliever. He compiled 197 wins along with 390 saves. The righthander, a six-time All-Star, becomes only the third relief pitcher in history to gain entry into the Hall of Fame, joining Hoyt Wilhelm (1985) and Rollie Fingers (1992).
