Hard-hitting second baseman Joe Gordon of the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by one of the two Veterans Committees, the Hall of Fame announced on Monday.
Gordon, a nine-times All-Star in an 11-season career that began in 1938, was the only one of 20 potential candidates elected by separate committees scrutinizing players whose careers began prior to 1943 and 1943 or after.
No one from the post-1942 era was elected from a group under consideration that included Gil Hodges, Ron Santo, Joe Torre, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Luis Tiant and Maury Wills.
Gordon, who played in six World Series and on the winning side in five, slugged 253 homers and drove in 975 runs in a career interrupted for two years of military service in World War Two. He died in 1978 at the age of 63.
Gordon's election to the Cooperstown, New York, Hall of Fame was announced at baseball's winter meetings in Las Vegas.
Gordon, a nine-times All-Star in an 11-season career that began in 1938, was the only one of 20 potential candidates elected by separate committees scrutinizing players whose careers began prior to 1943 and 1943 or after.
No one from the post-1942 era was elected from a group under consideration that included Gil Hodges, Ron Santo, Joe Torre, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Luis Tiant and Maury Wills.
Gordon, who played in six World Series and on the winning side in five, slugged 253 homers and drove in 975 runs in a career interrupted for two years of military service in World War Two. He died in 1978 at the age of 63.
Gordon's election to the Cooperstown, New York, Hall of Fame was announced at baseball's winter meetings in Las Vegas.
