Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina had the necessary votes this year to gain entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but one former Big Leaguer topped them all.
Former Yankees closer Mariano Rivera became the first ever unanimous pick into the Hall of Fame. Not even Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams or Nolan Ryan could top that feat.
Rivera is MLB's all-time leader in saves with 632. Although he earned his fair share of saves in the regular season, it was him closing out five World Series titles during his career with the Yankees.
Rivera's feat is even more notable as only seven pitchers who were primarily relievers have been elected to the Hall of Fame.
Rivera wasn't the only specialist named to the Hall of Fame. Edgar Martinez was elected on Tuesday as just the second Hall of Famer to play more games as a designated hitter than a field position. Martinez played 1,412 of his 2055 games as a DH.
He hit .312 over the course of his career, which was spent with Seattle.
Also gaining entry to the Hall of Fame was the late Roy Halladay and former Oriole and Yankee Mike Mussina. Halladay won 203 games in his career. He died last year in a plane crash off the coast of Florida. Mussina won 270 games, and won seven-Gold Glove awards.
