More: Harold Baines, Lee Smith elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

More: What to watch as the Cincinnati Reds head to the Winter Meetings

Both players will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 21 alongside any players elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote in January. LAS VEGAS — The Today’s Game Committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame — which used to be known as the Veterans Committee — met here at the Winter Meetings today and voted on the ten candidates for this year’s induction class. “And in the case of someone who received 6 per cent of the vote in the BBWAA election, the reason that may have happened could be for many, many reasons.”

It took 12 votes for election by the panel — longtime reliever Lee Smith was unanimous, Baines got 12 and former outfielder and manager Lou Piniella fell just short with 11. The selections were surprising on a ballot that also contained the names of owner George Steinbrenner, managers Davey Johnson, Lou Piniella, and Charlie Manuel; and former postseason stars Orel Hershiser, Will Clark, Albert Belle, and Joe Carter. In fact, in the hours after his selection by a Hall-picked panel was announced Sunday at the Mandalay Bay resort, a lot of conversations at the winter meetings started the exact same way: “Harold Baines?”

No one doubted Baines was a top player — a six-time All-Star with 1,628 RBIs, 384 home runs and 2,866 hits. Six-time All-Star Harold Baines on getting his call to the Baseball Hall of Fame: "I wasn't expecting this day to come." Smith, who spent the maximum 15 years on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot, held the career record for saves for 13 years before Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman passed him. Hall of Fame Weekend 2019 will be held July 19-22, with the Induction Ceremony on Sunday, July 21.
In Major League Baseball, the Hall of Fame announces the first members of its 2019 induction class, with Harold Baines and Lee Smith voted in by one of four special committees. They, along with any players elected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America in January 2019, will be formally inducted at the Hall's facility in Cooperstown, New York on July 21, 2019.