Three years after Ken Griffey Jr. fell three votes shy of a unanimous induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame and set the record with 99.3 percent of the vote, Mariano Rivera established the new high-water mark Tuesday – for the first time in the 83 years of Baseball Writers’ Association of America balloting, a player has been elected by a unanimous vote.
Rivera, Major League Baseball’s all-time leader in saves, was named on all 425 ballots cast in the 2019 BBWAA Hall of Fame voting, earning Hall of Fame election along with fellow pitchers Mike Mussina and the late Roy Halladay and designated hitter-third baseman Edgar Martínez.