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ByRonaldBlum The Associated Press NEW YORK RandyJohnson,Pe- dro Martinez and John Smoltz dominated in an era of offense, each in their own way. The 6-foot-10 Big Unit became the tallest of 215 players elected to baseball's Hall of Fame and the 5-foot-11 Martinez the short- est pitcher picked for Cooper- stown since Whitey Ford in 1974. Smoltz, who found unusual success both as a starting pitcher and a reliever, also was voted in Tuesday along with Craig Biggio, the first time since 1955 writers picked four players in one year. For many, the election of John- son and Martinez was the long and short of it. "You're talking about freakish talent," Smoltz said. "I've never seen at each person's height any- body come close to what they were able to do." Johnson, Martinez and Smoltz were crowned by big margins on their first tries, and Biggio made it on his third attempt after fall- ing two votes shy last year. Steroids-tainted stars Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa again fell far short of half of the votes and appear to have little chance of reaching the necessary 75 per- cent during their remaining time on the Baseball Writers' Associa- tion of America ballot. "It's actually sad, to be hon- est. It's sad," Martinez said. "Peo- ple I admired are not going in with me." COOPERSTOWN Johnson,Martinez,2 othersvotedintoHall Smoltz also selected, Biggio gets in on third attempt; Tainted stars Bonds, Clemens le out CHARLESKRUPA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Former Boston Red Sox starter Pedro Martinez throws to the New York Yankees in the first inning of Game 5of the ALCS in Boston. Martinez was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. JOHN BAZEMORE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Arizona Diamondbacks former starting pitcher Randy Johnson was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. By Kristin J. Bender The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Two men are roughly halfway through what has been called the hardest rock climb in the world: a free climb of a half-mile section of exposed granite in California's Yosemite National Park. Tom Evans, a climber and pho- tographer, has been chronicling Kevin Jorgeson, 30, of Santa Rosa, and Tommy Caldwell, 36, of Estes Park, Colorado, as they scale their way using only their hands and feet. El Capitan, the largest mono- lith of granite in the world, rises more than 3,000 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor. The first climber reached its summit in 1958, and there are roughly 100 routes up to the top. Of those, the hardest and steepest is called the Dawn Wall, which faces east to- ward the rising sun. Many have climbed Dawn Wall, which has been described "as smooth as alabaster, as steep as the bedroom wall," but the pair would be the first to free climb it using ropes only as a safeguard against falls. The men eat, stretch and sleep in hanging tents suspended to the Dawn Wall. They don't have the creature comforts of home, but they have kept in touch with MOUNTAIN CLIMBING Twomentryworld'smostdifficultclimb Pair halfway through getting up half-mile section of exposed granite at Yosemite Park TRACIE CONE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE This August 2011file photo shows Half Dome and Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point at Yosemite National Park. The Associated Press ST. PAUL, MINN. Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored his second win- ning goal in two nights 3:09 into overtime, and the San Jose Sharks completed a 4-3 come-from-be- hind victory over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. Vlasic, who scored the winner with 4.5 seconds left in regula- tion on Monday night at Winni- peg, beat goalie Darcy Kuemper with a wrist shot from just out- side the left circle. Joe Pavelski and Tommy Win- gels scored 1:14 apart to give San Jose a 3-2 lead at 7:35 of the third period. Minnesota's Jason Zucker tipped in a pass from Charlie Coyle at 12:12 for his second goal of the game, tying it 3-3 and tem- porarily helping the Wild regain momentum. Wild forward Zach Parise missed the game to be with his ailing father — former player J.P. Parise — who has lung cancer. Zucker and Jared Spurgeon scored in the first period to give NHL Vlasic's OT go al g iv es Sharks win over Wild Gets his second winning goal in past two nights ANN HEISENFELT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS San Jose's Melker Karlsson (68) scores on Minnesota Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper (35) on Tuesday. By Anne M. Peterson The Associated Press EUGENE, ORE. Oregon center Hroniss Grasu jokes about how he should have planned ahead: His apartment lease ran out, so he's staying in a hotel while the Ducks prepare for the national championship. Kidding aside, living out of a suitcase is just fine with Grasu be- cause it means he gets to play in one more game with the Ducks. While quarterback Marcus Mariota is the unquestioned leader of the team, Grasu is its anchor. Both players decided last year at about this time that they would return for another season at Oregon. Asked this week about what it would feel like to win next Mon- day night when the Ducks face Ohio State for the title, Grasu said that he honestly hadn't con- sidered it yet. "I'm not thinking about what it would feel like if we win a na- tional championship, I'm just thinking about what I've got to do to get this team in the best po- sition to win," he said. "We'll just do whatever it takes." The 6-foot-3 senior, who is just shy of 300 pounds, is considered COLLEGE FOOTBALL Grasu guides Oregon's line a er season of adversity SHARKS4,WILD3(OT) Thursday: San Jose Sharks at St. Louis Blues, 5p.m., TV on CSNCA. THESCORE The NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund is asking a Missouri judge to convene a new grand jury to consider charges against the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown. 'GRAVE LEGAL CONCERNS' Groupseeksnewgrand jury in Ferguson case FULL STORY ON PAGE B3 The Red Bluff Spartans have a league dual meet at 6p.m. in Redding against Shasta. The Corning Cardinals start their Northern Athletic League sea- son with a dual meet at West Valley at 6p.m. WRESTLING Red Bluff, Corning on the road for dual meets The Red Bluff Spartans soccer teams start their post-winter break schedule today at Red- ding Soccer Park. The boys (3-1-2) as well as the Lady Spartans (6-1) take on West Valley. SOCCER Red Bluff boys, girls return to action To try to save him from the death penalty in the Boston Marathon bombing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers will prob- ably look for jurors who are in- tellectually curious and eager to learn about other cultures. BOSTON MARATHON Jury's makeup seen as critical in bombing trial FULL STORY ON PAGE B5 CLIMB PAGE 2 GRASU PAGE 2 HALL PAGE 2 SHARKS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, January 7, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1