NEW YORK -- Andre Dawson got up at 6 a.m. and went to the gym. Before going back home, he took a detour from his usual routine on the day Hall of Fame voting is announced.

"I went by a cemetery to visit my mom and also my grandmother," he said. "It's the first time I had done that. I just felt a little bit more optimistic about this year, and I just wanted to share a few things at that grave site. It meant a lot to me to get out there."

Dawson's faith was rewarded a few hours later Wednesday, when he was elected to the Hall in his ninth try. He was the only player honored, as Bert Blyleven fell five votes short and Roberto Alomar finished eight shy.

Dawson received 420 of 539 votes in results announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, 15 more than the 75 percent necessary to gain election. The eight-time All-Star outfielder was 44 votes short last year.

"If you're a Hall of Famer, eventually you're going to get in no matter how long it takes," Dawson said during a telephone conference call. "As I sit here, the only thing I can think of is that it was well worth the wait."

He credited mom Mattie Brown and grandmother Eunice Taylor for teaching him to work hard with dedication and determination. He cried as he arrived at the cemetery, and thanked his mother for raising eight children without a father in the house. He hoped he made them proud.

"I told her, 'I love you. I miss you. I wish you were alive so I could tell you that,'" he remembered saying.

While they never saw him play in person, fearing he'd get hurt, they tracked his career from a distance.

"There were some instances where I may have made myself look like a fool out there on the field with some confrontations with the umpires," Dawson said. "I would get a call immediately. And you know, the question was: 'Who do you think you are and what do you think you're doing?' And that, you know, kind of humbled me to a degree."