In his first shot at becoming a Hall of Famer, Wade Boggs breezed through with amazing ease. In his third try, Ryne Sandberg slipped through by the skin of his teeth.

The bottom line is that both former big-league stars are headed for Cooperstown after being elected Tuesday in the annual Hall of Fame balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Boggs became the 41st player elected on his first attempt by receiving 91.86 percent of the votes, the 19th highest total in the history of writers association balloting. Sandberg squeezed in with 76.2 percent of the record number of 516 ballots cast, receiving only six more votes than the 387 required to reach the 75 percent threshold for entrance to the Hall.

During a conference call with baseball writers, Boggs admitted that it was special to be elected on his first attempt.

"It means a lot," he said. "So many great players played this game before me that are still waiting to get in. It would not have been the end of the world had I not gotten in but it would have been a disappointment."

Despite winning five American League batting titles, hitting .300 or higher 15 times and compiling a .328 career average, Boggs said he didn't consider himself a sure-fire Hall of Famer until he collected his 3,000th hit - a home run - on Aug. 7, 1999, with his hometown Tampa Bay Devil Rays."Up until then, you never really think about it," said Boggs, who finished with 3,010 hits, 23rd on the all-time list.Boggs, 46, probably will go into the Hall of Fame representing the Boston Red Sox, for whom he played his first 11 seasons. But it was in 1996, while playing for the New York Yankees, that he finally won the World Series ring that had eluded him so long.Sandberg emerged as one of the dominant second basemen in the game during his career with the Chicago Cubs, setting the all-time fielding percentage of .989 at the position. He also hit 277 home runs as a second baseman, establishing a record that was passed by Jeff Kent last year.Sandberg was named National League Most Valuable Player in 1984, led the league with 40 home runs in 1990 and was elected to 10 all-star teams. Still, after missing by 71 votes last year, he admitted wondering whether he had the credentials to be elected to the Hall of Fame."I found myself asking that question," he said. "I'd generally answer it by saying, 'Who am I to decide if I'm a Hall of Fame player?' It's a very select group. I waited to see if my time would come."That time came earlier than expected when Sandberg received a call at 10:30 a.m. in Phoenix, informing him of his election."It caught me off-guard a little bit," said Sandberg, 45. "It was one of the more incredible phone calls I ever received. Total elation set in after that."