Dave Fleming announces the results of the Bill James Online reader vote for the Hall of Fame. Pedro Martinez received the most votes, and Dave dissects what made Martinez so special:

He was brilliant pitcher, of course: I think I’ll never see a pitcher as brilliant at Pedro was at his peak. But to call him brilliant is to miss half of what made Pedro such a singular player. To me, the remarkable thing about Martinez is that he combined the intensity…that hyper-competitiveness that players like Pete Rose or Frank Robinson or Ty Cobb possessed, with a startling joy. He played with a rare kind of humor: though he always wanted to win, he seemed to know, too, that he was making his living playing a game, and was fortunate to be doing that. That’s a difficult balance to find: combining a fierce will with a sense of perspective that allowed him to enjoy the contests he so frequently won.