Call it an encouraging but still disappointing outcome.
Mariners icon Edgar Martinez, despite a significant surge in support, fell short Wednesday in this year’s balloting for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He has two remaining years of ballot eligibility.
Outfielder Tim Raines, first baseman Jeff Bagwell and catcher Pudge Rodriguez were the only players elected among 34 candidates in voting by 442 members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Election required that a player by cited on 75 percent of the returned ballots.
Raines, Bagwell and Rodriguez will join former commissioner Bud Selig and former Atlanta and Kansas City general manager John Schuerholz in the July 31 induction ceremony near the museum’s site in Cooperstown, N.