On Tuesday evening, we learned that the Baseball Writers' Association of America elected four new players into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum: Edgar Martinez, Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera. It's always heartwarming to see the Hall of Fame inductees reacting to the news via phone.

Here's Edgar getting the call from the BBWAA...better late than never:

Then, we've got the greatest closer of all time finding out he's the first unanimous Hall of Fame selection. Mo and his family were pretty excited:

The late Halladay earned votes on 85.4 percent of ballots. It was a bittersweet announcement for his family, and Halladay's widow Brandy released the following the statement.

"Being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame is every boy's dream.  To stand on that stage in Cooperstown and deliver your acceptance speech in front of baseball's most enthusiastic fans is something that every baseball player aspires to achieve, and Roy was no exception.  But that was not Roy's goal.  It was not his goal to have those three letters after his signature.  His goal was to be successful every single day of his 16-year career.  Tonight's announcement is the end result of that effort.  If only Roy were here to personally express his gratitude for this honor, what an even more amazing day this would be.  I would like to extend special thanks to the baseball writers for the overwhelming percentage of votes that Roy received in his first year on the ballot.  It means so much to me, Braden and Ryan."                                                         

Halladay's eldest son, Braden shared a congratulatory message for his late father on Twitter

And finally we have Mussina -- elected in his sixth year on the BBWAA ballot -- who may have been caught off guard by the phone call from the BBWAA.

 But he did receive plenty of praise from another fellow Hall of Famer:

The four will be honored as part of the Hall's Induction Weekend July 19-22 in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with pitcher Lee Smith and designated hitter Harold Baines, who were elected in December by the Today's Game Era Committee.