Surprisingly, the National Baseball Hall of Fame will welcome two new members during its 2005 Induction Ceremony in July, as hitting specialist Wade Boggs and defensive specialist Ryne Sandberg were elected in voting announced Tuesday afternoon.

Boggs, with over 3,000 hits to his credit and a five time batting champion with the Boston Red Sox, was considered a shoo-in for election, but his vote total of 474, the third highest in Hall history, was the first surprise of the day. The election of Chicago Cubs second baseman Sandberg in his third year of eligibility was the second surprise.

Both Boggs and Sandberg, along with any Veterans Committee selections, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 31 on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center.

Although Boggs was expecting the phone to ring Tuesday afternoon, it still took him a few minutes to believe the call to his home was real, he said during a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon. Baseball Writers Association of America president Jack O'Connell called Boggs' home and told him the good news, and Boggs' response was "Is this a joke?"

Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark then got on the phone, and finally Hall spokesman Jeff Idelson told him, "Boggsy, it's real."

No one could have blamed Sandberg, the 1984 National League MVP, if he had a similar reaction when he received his Hall Call after missing election in his first two years. Sandberg made it in this year with just six votes to spare, getting 76.2 percent of the vote. Seventy five percent is needed for election.

"It was incredible, definitely one of the more memorable phone calls I've ever received," Sandberg said during his conference call. "I learned a long time ago there are no guarantees in the game of baseball, and I know there are some tremendous players who had to wait longer than I did."

Sandberg said he had no bitterness over having to wait two years.

"It doesn't diminish the honor at all," he said. "Once you get in you're a Hall of Famer no matter if you get in on the first try or after 15 years."

Sandberg was the first player in history to have a 40-homer season (1990) and a 50-stolen base season (1985) in his career, and only the 10th in history to hit 250 home runs and get 250 stolen bases. But even with those numbers Sandberg is still known mostly for his amazing defensive ability.

He won nine consecutive Gold Gloves beginning in 1983 and set a record for infielders other than first basemen by going a remarkable 123 games in a row without an error. When he hung up his spikes for good in 1997 after 16 seasons, Sandberg owned the lifetime records for second baseman with a .990 fielding percentage and 1,061 RBI.

His trademark game came against Bruce Sutter and the Cardinals in the early 1990s when he hit two home runs off the reliever in one game. Sutter was third in this year's voting, receiving 344 votes (66.7 percent), while Boggs' former teammate in Boston, Jim Rice, was fourth with 307 votes or 59.5 percent.

"To this day, people still come up to me and want to talk about that game," Sandberg said. "That game probably launched my career offensively and showed me I could be a better offensive player than even I thought."

Sandberg said Cubs manager Jim Frey was probably the biggest influence on his career, helping turn Sandberg into a power hitter before the 1984 season.

"He just talked with me about hitting and encouraged me to be more of a power hitter," Sandberg said. "I owe a lot to him."

Boggs was never a power hitter but seemed to almost always be on base. He racked up at least 200 hits in seven straight seasons, hit .349 or better six times and reached base safely in an amazing 80 percent of the games he played in during an 18-year career.

After spending 11 seasons with the Red Sox, narrowly missing winning the 1986 World Series, Boggs signed with the rival New York Yankees in 1993. In 1994 and '95, he won the first two Gold Gloves of his career, and in 1996 he helped the Yankees to a World Series title over the Atlanta Braves.

Boggs had seen the Mets come back from an 0-2 hole in 1986, and said when the Yankees faced the same deficit against the Braves, he never panicked.

"I knew what could happen in a World Series," he said. "We went to Atlanta and took no prisoners, and we knew when we got back to New York there was no stopping us."

Boggs moved on to Tampa Bay for two seasons in 1998-99, ironically becoming the only player to homer for his 3,000th hit during the 1999 season.

Sandberg, like Cubs' legend Ernie Banks before him, never played in a World Series, but said the Hall of Fame puts closure on his career.

"I spent 20 years trying to get to a World Series but we didn't make it," he said. "But now I'm in the Hall of Fame and that's the pinnacle and that's forever."