They had the most hazardous job in all of baseball.
They were pitchers, smack in the heart of the steroid era.
It's only fitting that in this new era of pitching dominance, baseball welcomed in three of its pioneers Tuesday, who thrived during the most difficult pitching conditions in baseball history.
Welcome to the Hall of Fame: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz, elected just a year after Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.
It's the first time in history that three pitchers were voted into the Hall of Fame in a single season.
And with second baseman Craig Biggio joining the club, it's the first time since 1955 that four players were elected in a single ballot.
Yet, with apologies to Biggio, this ballot was all about the pitching.
Johnson, Martinez and Smoltz were among the preeminent pitchers at a time when juiced hitters that produced cartoon numbers dominated the game.
They won nine Cy Young awards, led the league in strikeouts 14 seasons, and won nine ERA titles.
They stand from Johnson, 6-foot-10, the tallest man ever inducted into the Hall of Fame, to Martinez, 5-foot-11, the shortest right-hander to be inducted, and Smoltz, 6-4, the greatest hybrid pitcher who started and relieved.
"Can you imagine if those guys pitched in today's era,'' former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone told USA TODAY Sports, "and not when hitters were doing what they were doing. They wouldn't give up a run.
"It was a different game back then. The game isn't close to being what it was when they pitched.''
A juiced game, when bulked-up hitters were bashing 60 or 70 home runs, and driving in 100 runs by the All-Star break, and crooked numbers dominated the scoreboard.
This past year, with drug testing fully implemented, and amphetamines now banned, just one player - Nelson Cruz - hit 40 home runs.
There was a reason why Bert Blyleven was the only starting pitcher to be inducted from 2000 to 2013, with his career ending before the steroid era.
We've now had five starting pitchers earn Hall of Fame berths in a two-year window.
It should be six, of course, but Roger Clemens and his seven Cy Young awards remain on the outside looking in, his career shrouded by the steroid controversy. The same, of course, goes for Barry Bonds, baseball's all-time home run king who's considered one of the greatest players since Babe Ruth.
"It's actually sad to be honest,'' Martinez said. "I feel sad for them they're not going to be with me. I know they were special players, people I admired.
"I had probably more than one reason to do it. I could have gone the short way. But I did it clean. I did the right way. You have to respect the game. You have to respect yourself. You have to respect your family.''
It would have been easy for any of the pitching triumvirate to complain about the injustice of competing during the steroid era. Mistakes weren't landing in the outfield for singles. They were clearing the fences, even stadiums, for homers.
Yet, none of them ever publicly complained about pitching during this time.
Smoltz says he actually began letting his feelings known about baseball's steroid problem in 2000, but only in private conversations, never making it a public vendetta. He always hoped there would be changes, and the implementation of a drug-testing policy. He just never imagined that it would now be the most comprehensive in American team sports, thanks to the union and baseball management.
"I tried to find different ways to make my point,'' Smoltz says, "because I cared and loved the game for so long. I just didn't think we could get to this point.
"he game has found a way to show the legitimacy to show the fans whether what they were watching is legitimate or not."
The only trouble now, of course, is weeding through future Hall of Fame ballots and determining who was clean, and who was dirty. There will be plenty of attention focused this next year on catcher Mike Piazza, who has admitted to androstenedione, which was not banned by baseball at the time. He drew 69% of the votes, and is a strong candidate to be elected next year with center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. and closer Trevor Hoffman.
"I realize the fans and media have hard time determining,'' Smoltz says. "Hopefully in time, it becomes clearer for all parties involved.''
If nothing else, the Hall of Fame logjam is now clearing.
Just two years after no one was elected, drawing heavy scrutiny that the Hall of Fame voting process was broken, we've elected seven players in the last two years, with another three likely next year. We had 51% of the writers voting for the maximum 10 spots compared to just 22% in 2013.
The biggest remaining question now will be whether anyone with links to steroids will ever be inducted. Mark McGwire (10%) and Sammy Sosa (6%), baseball's heroes back in 1998, are clinging to dear life on the ballot. The candidacy for Bonds (36.8%) and Clemens (37.5%) remains at a stalemate, with the needle barely moving.
"I don't know what guys were doing, all I know is that it wasn't part of my life,'' says Biggio, the first Astros' player elected, who wept after being informed of the news. "Other choices players made, that was their choice.''
Just as it's the choice of voters to decide on the fate of Bonds and Clemens.
So far, no one's budging.
Follow Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale
Courtesy of BBWAA, Baseball-Reference.com
