COOPERSTOWN Bruce Rondon Jersey , N.Y. (AP) — as he always has — even on a day he’ll never forget.“I hold it inside. It’ll come out,” Baines said Tuesday, sitting just a few feet from where his bronze plaque will hang in the Baseball Hall of Fame come late July. “It’s very special, but it still hasn’t really sunk in.“I’m very honored, very grateful for what’s going to be happening in the next few months.”Baines and reliever Lee Smith were selected for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame at the baseball winter meetings in Las Vegas in December by a 16-member veterans committee. It took 12 votes by the panel to gain election — Smith was unanimous, while Baines received the requisite 12, one more than Lou Piniella. Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez, the late Roy Halladay, and Mike Mussina were selected last week by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. All six will be inducted July 21.Baines started his career as an outfielder before an injury late in the 1986 season forced him into the role of a designated hitter and had a solid 22-year career, retiring after the 2001 season. He finished with 1,628 RBIs, 384 home runs and 2,866 hits, and was a six-time All-Star. But he never received more than 6.1 percent of the vote by the writers in five appearances on the ballot, well below the 75 percent threshold for induction.In the key WAR stat, as compiled by baseballreference.com http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-paul-konerko-jersey , Baines’ lifetime total was tied for 545th.Baines also never finished higher than ninth in an MVP vote, never was among the top five hitters in the annual batting race, never had 200 hits, never hit 30 homers in a season, and was hurt by the bias of purists against the DH position. He will join Martinez and Frank Thomas as the only players in the Hall who spent more than half their games as a DH.On this day none of that mattered. Nor did the fact that the panel appointed by the Hall board that voted him in included longtime Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, his biggest supporter, and Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, the first skipper Baines played for when he broke in as a rookie with the White Sox in 1980.“There’s always a chance,” said Baines, who was accompanied by his wife, Marla, on a tour of the Hall of Fame to prepare for induction day. “I don’t worry about things I can’t control. When stuff is out of your hands, you really don’t step back and dwell on it. I’m just fortunate that the modern-day veterans committee thought it was worth honoring me.”“I’ve been blessed with this honor and I’m going to try to uphold it as best I can,” he said.Baines, selected by the White Sox as the top pick in the 1977 amateur draft out of St. Michael’s High School in Easton, Maryland, played for five major league teams but spent nearly all of his first 10 seasons with the White Sox and currently serves as a team ambassador in their community relations department.Despite doubts about his Hall of Fame credentials, Baines Miguel Gonzalez Jersey , a dependable left-handed hitter with a smooth swing, did finish with five more RBIs than first-ballot Hall of Famer Chipper Jones (in 824 more at-bats) and lost more than 120 games to two work stoppages that deprived him of an opportunity to reach 3,000 hits, one of the benchmarks for selection to the Hall of Fame.“That’s part of the game,” Baines, soon to be 60, said. “I’m thankful that I played for 22 years. The work stoppage has made it better for the guys that are playing now. So if I had to be a part of that, then I’m all for it.” ATLANTA (AP) — Sean Newcomb still thinks of himself as a young pitcher.Some of his new Braves teammates see Newcomb as a veteran with all the answers. That puts a different kind of pressure on the left-hander as he enters his third season.Newcomb did not walk a batter in four innings and Pedro Florimon hit a ninth-inning grand slam off Jimmy Herget to lift Atlanta over the Cincinnati Reds 7-5 Tuesday in the last exhibition game for each team.Among healthy starters, the 25-year-old Newcomb trails only Julio Teheran in seniority in a rotation that includes rookies Kyle Wright and Bryse Wilson.“I would be younger on some other teams but here I’m kind of stuck in the middle, kind of knowing all those younger guys but also having been here for a couple years,” Newcomb said. “They kind of come to me for a lot of questions because it’s a little more comfortable for them.”Mike Foltynewicz, a 2018 All-Star expected to be the team’s top starter, is recovering from a sore elbow. Kevin Gausman may recover from a sore shoulder in time to pitch in the Braves’ first home series next week. Max Fried, a 2018 rookie, is the probable No. 5 starter.Newcomb was 12-9 with a 3.90 ERA last season. The left-hander faded after compiling a 2.59 ERA in his first 15 starts.A key to Newcomb’s hopes of improved consistency is better control. He walked 15 batters in his first 17 innings this spring training but avoiding walks helped him give up only two runs on three hits to the Reds.“I threw more strikes,” he said. “… I’m healthy, I’m feeling strong, my fastball is in a good spot and today my off-speed was in a good spot Tim Anderson Jersey , too.”Newcomb is scheduled to start Atlanta’s home opener against the Cubs on Monday. Teheran, Wilson and Wright will start in the opening series against Philadelphia this week.Reds starter Anthony DeSclafani allowed two hits and one walk in four scoreless innings. Wright gave up three runs and five hits in four innings.Kyle Farmer hit a two-run homer off Newcomb in the third inning. Atlanta’s Dansby Swanson hit a two-run homer off Zach Duke in the fifth.TRAINER’S ROOMReds OF Nick Senzel sprained his right ankle while sliding into second base in a minor league game on Monday night. Senzel will be in a walking boot for at least one week and will be out for “weeks after that,” president of baseball operations Dick Williams said. Williams added the injury doesn’t affect plans for Senzel to play center field, instead of second base, “but it affects the time frame.” Senzel, the team’s top prospect, was sent to the minors on Friday.SECOND-CHANCE EFFORTFarmer was demoted to the minors on Friday and recalled on Saturday after Scooter Gennett sustained a severe groin strain that will force him to miss the opening months of the season.Farmer started at shortstop and has played at catcher, first base and third base in his career.“He’s shown a lot,” said Reds manager David Bell. “The fact he can catch and play shortstop, he can probably play all nine positions. … He can hit, too. He’s going to be a big part of our team.”ROSTER NEWSReds RHP Matt Wisler was reassigned to the minors and is expected to be designated for assignment. Bell said Wisler, who began his career with the Braves, “did everything he could to make the team” but lost out to RHP Robert Stephenson in the competition for a spot in the bullpen. “We like where he is, we believe in him,” Bell said of Stephenson. Bell said he didn’t want to define Stephenson’s bullpen role.UP NEXTReds: RHP Luis Castillo will start when the Reds open at home against Pittsburgh on Thursday.Braves: Teheran will make his sixth straight opening day start when Atlanta faces the Phillies and RHP Aaron Nola on Thursday.