BBWAA announces Hall of Fame ballot

Five former Orioles are included on the 2015 Hall of Fame ballot, which was released today by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

The ballot contains 17 newcomers and 17 holdovers, and is being mailed this week to more than 575 voting members of the BBWAA.

The former Orioles are pitchers Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling and Lee Smith, and outfielders Tim Raines and Sammy Sosa.

The list of newcomers to the ballot includes pitchers Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz, infielder Nomar Garciaparra and outfielder Gary Sheffield.

Johnson won five Cy Young Awards - four with the Diamondbacks and one with the Mariners - during a 22-season career. He won 303 games and totaled 4,875 strikeouts, second only to Nolan Ryan in MLB history. Johnson and Schilling were co-winners of the 2001 World Series Most Valuable Player Award.

Martinez also won Cy Young Awards in both leagues - two in the American League with the Red Sox and one in the National League with the Expos. The right-hander led his league in ERA five times and finished his 18-season career with 3,154 strikeouts and a .687 winning percentage (219-100). He was runner-up for the 1999 AL MVP Award to Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez.

Smoltz was the NL Cy Young Award winner in 1996 with the Braves, the team that employed him for most of his 21 seasons in the majors as part of a rotation that included Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. Smoltz is the only pitcher in history with more than 200 victories (213) and 150 saves (154). He amassed a postseason record of 15-4 with a 2.67 ERA and 199 strikeouts in 209 innings.

Garciaparra was the unanimous choice for the 1997 AL Rookie of the Year Award and won batting titles in 1999 and 2000 over a 14-season career in which he compiled a .313 batting average. He was runner-up to the Rangers' Juan Gonzalez for the AL MVP Award in 1998, one of five times he finished in the top 10 in MVP balloting.

Sheffield was the NL batting champion in 1992 with the Padres, one of eight clubs the slugger played for over 22 seasons, including the 1997 World Series champion Marlins. His 509 career home runs rank 25th on the all-time list. Playing for the Yankees in 2004, Sheffield finished second in MVP voting to the Angels' Vladimir Guerrero, one of his six top-10 MVP placements. Sheffield also drove in more than 100 runs eight times.

Other first-timers on the ballot include first baseman Carlos Delgado, who totaled 473 home runs among his 2,038 career hits, first baseman Tony Clark, outfielder/first baseman Darin Erstad, outfielders Jermaine Dye, Cliff Floyd and Brian Giles, infielders Rich Aurilia and Aaron Boone, and pitchers Tom Gordon, Eddie Guardado, Troy Percival and Jason Schmidt.

Candidates must be named on 75 percent of ballots cast by BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years of Major League Baseball coverage to gain election. In 2014, Craig Biggio missed the 75 percent qualifying point by two votes. He's on the ballot for a third year.

A rules change by the Hall's board of directors going into effect this year limits players to remain on the ballot for up to 10 years provided they receive 5 percent of the vote. Players between 10 years and the previous time frame of 15 years have been grandfathered on the ballot - Smith (13th year), first baseman Don Mattingly (15th) and shortstop Alan Trammell (14th).

Writers must return ballots by a Dec. 27 postmark. Results will be announced at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, on MLB Network.

Here's the full ballot:

Rich Aurilia, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Aaron Boone, Tony Clark, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jermaine Dye, Darin Erstad, Cliff Floyd, Nomar Garciaparra, Brian Giles, Tom Gordon, Eddie Guardado, Randy Johnson, Jeff Kent, Edgar Martinez, Pedro Martinez, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Mike Mussina, Troy Percival, Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, Curt Schilling, Jason Schmidt, Gary Sheffield, Lee Smith, John Smoltz, Sammy Sosa, Alan Trammell, Larry Walker.