Reliever Bruce Sutter accumulated exactly 300 saves during a 12-year major league baseball career.

Give him one more.

The 53-year-old Sutter was the only former player on the Baseball Writers Association of America's ballot to be elected this year, saving the National Baseball Hall of Fame from the first induction ceremony since 1960 with no living inductees this summer.

The 2006 ceremony will be held Sunday, July 30 on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center. Also honored that day will be the Ford C. Frick and Spink Award winners for broadcasting and baseball writing, respectively. In February, a special Negro Leagues committee will announce its results as well. The committee was formed four years ago to study African American baseball from 1860 to 1960.

The only pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame who never started a game, Sutter began his career in 1976 with the Chicago Cubs, but had the best four year of his career as a St. Louis Cardinal from 1981-84, earning two saves in the Cardinals 1982 World Series victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. During those four seasons, Sutter accumulated 125 saves, including a career high 45 saves in 1984.

Famous for revolutionizing the split-finger pitch that dove downward as it approached the plate, Sutter then pitched four years with the Atlanta Braves, finishing his career in 1988 after just 12 years because of an arm injury.

The reliever has been eligible for Induction since 1994, making this the 13th time he waited for the phone call telling him he was a member of the Hall of Fame.

Sutter finally received that long-awaited call at his Georgia home Tuesday morning from BBWAA president Jack O'Connell.

"Basically, I saw on the caller ID that the phone call was from New York so I thought this might be it," Sutter said. "When Jack told me, I gave the thumbs up to my family and friends and they started screaming and I started crying."

Sutter said after 13 years of waiting on the ballot, and 18 years since he last threw a major league pitch, he had stopped getting his hopes up when the announcement was made every January. He would have been eligible on the BBWAA ballot for two more years, and then would have moved to the Veterans Committee ballot.

"I kind of knew this was my last chance," said Sutter, a six-time All Star and 1979 Cy Young Award winner. "With Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn eligible next year, I had a hunting trip planned, because I knew I wasn't getting in."

Sutter said he hoped his election would pave the way for fellow relievers Rich "Goose" Gossage and Lee Smith, both of whom recorded more lifetime saves than him.

"I know they're both in my Hall of Fame," Sutter said.

Sutter said he learned the split-finger pitch in 1973 from minor league pitching coach Fred Martin. He said he had elbow surgery during the off-season, and the split-finger pitch literally saved his career.

"I was a little leery about throwing sliders of curveballs after the surgery, and Fred taught me the pitch," Sutter recalled. "My fastball and slider were short of major league material, and without the split-finger I never would have made it."

Sutter received 400 of the 520 votes cast, or 76.9 percent of the vote. Candidates needed 390 votes for election. The 520 votes cast were a new record.

Gossage finished third in the balloting with 336 votes (64.6), one behind second-place finisher Jim Rice, the slugging outfielder who was named on 64.8 percent of the ballots. The only other players to be listed on more than half the ballots were outfielder Andre Dawson with 317 votes (61) and pitcher Bert Blyleven with 277 (58.3). Rounding out the top 10 were Lee Smith, Jack Morris, Tommy John, Steve Garvey and Alan Trammell.

Of the 14 players on the ballot for the first time, only two received sufficient support to remain in consideration, pitcher Orel Hershiser and outfielder Albert Belle. Players must be listed on five percent of the ballots (26 this year) to stay on the ballot for up to 15 years. Hershiser had 58 votes (11.2) and Belle 40 (7.7).

Also dropping off the ballot in his second year was outfielder Willie McGee (2.3). Other holdovers who will remain on the ballot are Dave Parker (14.4), Dave Concepcion (12.5 percent), Don Mattingly (12.3 percent) and Dale Murphy (10.8). Next year will be Garvey's last year on the ballot.

The 2007 Induction Ceremony has been highly anticipated for years, with the likely election of Ripken and Gwynn, and possibly slugger Mark McGwire.