Carlton Gets Top Honor : Baseball: He is voted into Hall of Fame on first try while Sutton misses by wide margin. Cepeda barely falls short in last year of eligibility.

Steve Carlton, the only pitcher to win four Cy Young awards, was overwhelmingly elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility while Don Sutton, the former Dodger and Angel pitcher who also won more than 300 games and was eligible for the first time, missed by a wide margin.

In results announced Wednesday, Carlton became the 25th player elected on his first try.

Carlton received 436 of 455 votes by members of the Baseball Writers Assn. of America for 95.8%, the fifth-highest percentage in history.

It takes 75% to be elected, which equated to 342 votes in this balloting, and only Carlton, 329-244 in his 24-year career, made it.

The big loser was Orlando Cepeda, who in his 15th and last year on the ballot, narrowly missed. He needed seven more votes, finishing at 73.6%.

Sutton, who had only five fewer victories than Carlton--he was 324-256--while pitching one fewer season, received 259 votes. Knuckleballer Phil Niekro, who also surpassed the 300-victory milestone, received 273 votes in his second year of eligibility.

In a conference call, Cepeda said it was heartbreaking to have come so close, “like losing a 1-0 game.” He added, however, it was also a victory in that so many people rallied behind him.

“I believe I was as good as anybody who played,” he said. “I know I belong (in the Hall), and we did everything we could to convince people.”

After getting only 59.6% of the votes last year, a letter-writing campaign on Cepeda’s behalf by the San Francisco Giants and several Hispanic members of Congress clearly had an impact.

But despite solid credentials and extensive community work for the Giants, Cepeda apparently continued to pay a price with some voters for his 1975 conviction and jail sentence for smuggling marijuana into Puerto Rico.

“I made a mistake 20 years ago,” Cepeda said. “Since then I’ve done so many wonderful things for the community and myself. Too many writers today are looking for things other than what a player does on the field. Too many writers today don’t know what they are doing.”

Of the 18 retired players who hit more than 300 home runs and batted over .295, only Cepeda is not in the Hall, and he must now hope that the veterans committee honors his credentials when he becomes eligible for consideration by that group in three years. He said his chances should improve since several former players are on the committee.

“Everybody wants to be elected by the writers because that’s the way it is normally done, but it would mean as much to me (to be selected by the veterans) because I just want to get in.”

Sutton, who spent 16 years with the Dodgers and more than two with the Angels, won 20 or more games only once, but had 17 or more victories in five other seasons. He ranks fifth on the all-time strikeout list and had a career earned-run average only a shade behind Carlton’s--3.22 to 3.26.

In a statement released by his agent, Sutton said he was disappointed but added that Niekro’s first-year failure had prepared him for the fact that 300 victories no longer mean automatic election.

“My dad often told me that all you can do is give your best on the field,” Sutton said. “The rest is out of your control.”

Niekro, whose percentage dipped slightly from his first year on the ballot, had a tough time fathoming it. “Like I said last year, you’d think 318 wins would be enough,” he said. “I just don’t understand it.”

Carlton is ninth on the all-time victory list--second among left-handers to Warren Spahn’s 363--and second in strikeouts with 4,136. He spent 14-plus seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, winning 23 or more games four times, including 27 of the 1972 team’s total of 59 victories.

Carlton, who lives on a 400-acre ranch in Durango, Colo., did not talk to reporters during most of his career, but he will attend a news conference in New York today.

He also released a statement through the Phillies on Wednesday in which he said he had never put emphasis on individual awards but was touched by his election to the Hall and considered it a great honor “to be included among the game’s greatest players.”

Tony Perez, with 263 votes, finished fourth behind Carlton, Cepeda and Niekro. Sutton was fifth, followed in the top 10 by former Dodger teammate Steve Garvey, 166 votes; Tony Oliva, 158; Ron Santo, 150; Bruce Sutter, 109, and Jim Kaat, 98.

* COMPLETE VOTING: C10

Steve Carlton’s Career Statistics

REGULAR SEASON

Year Team IP W-L SO BB ERA 1965 StL 25 0-0 21 8 2.52 1966 StL 52 3-3 25 18 3.12 1967 StL 193 14-9 168 62 2.98 1968 StL 232 13-11 162 61 2.99 1969 StL 236 17-11 210 93 2.17 1970 StL 254 10-19 193 109 3.72 1971 StL 273 20-9 172 98 3.56 1972 Phi 346 1/3 27-10 310 87 1.97 1973 Phi 293 1/3 13-20 223 113 3.90 1974 Phi 291 1/3 16-13 240 136 3.22 1975 Phi 255 15-14 192 104 3.56 1976 Phi 252 2/3 20-7 195 72 3.13 1977 Phi 283 23-10 198 89 2.64 1978 Phi 247 16-13 161 63 2.84 1979 Phi 251 18-11 213 89 3.62 1980 Phi 304 24-9 286 90 2.34 1981 Phi 190 13-4 179 62 2.42 1982 Phi 295 2/3 23-11 286 86 3.10 1983 Phi 283 2/3 15-16 275 84 3.11 1984 Phi 229 13-7 163 79 3.58 1985 Phi 92 1-8 48 53 3.33 1986 3* 176 1/3 9-14 120 86 5.10 1987 2** 152 6-14 91 86 5.74 1988 Min 9 2/3 0-1 5 5 16.76 TOTALS 5216 2/3 329-244 4136 1833 3.22

*--played for Phi., SF, and Chi (AL).

**--played for Cle. and Min.

DIVISION SERIES

Year Opp. IP W-L SO BB ERA 1981 Mtl 14 0-2 13 8 3.86

PLAYOFFS

Year Opp. IP W-L SO BB ERA 1976 Cin 7 0-1 6 5 5.14 1977 LA 11 2/3 0-1 6 8 6.94 1978 LA 9 1-0 8 2 4.00 1980 Hou 12 1/3 1-0 6 8 2.19 1983 LA 13 2/3 2-0 13 5 0.66 TOTALS 53 2/3 4-2 39 28 3.52

WORLD SERIES

Year Opp. IP W-L SO BB ERA 1967 Bos 6 0-1 5 2 0.00 1968 Det 4 0-0 3 1 6.75 1980 KC 15 2-0 17 9 2.40 1983 Balt 6 2/3 0-1 7 3 2.70 TOTALS 31 2/3 2-2 32 15 2.56

The Breakdown

Number of Hall of Fame members by position:

Pitcher: 48

Catcher: 13

First base: 15

Second base: 8

Shortstop: 13

Third base: 8

Left field: 16

Center field: 17

Right field: 20