Former second baseman Joe Gordon was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee on yesterday, while another panel shut out the likes of Joe Torre, Ron Santo and Gil Hodges.

Gordon, a nine-time All-Star and five-time World Series winner with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians, was picked by a 12-member committee that only looked at players who started before 1943.

But a panel made up of the living 64 Hall of Famers failed to pick anyone who began their careers after World War II. It took 75 percent for election and no one came close -- Santo got 61 percent, followed by Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Hodges and Torre.

The results were announced at the baseball winter meetings in Las Vegas.

Gordon got 10 votes -- one more than needed -- and joined a host of past teammates in the Hall. He began his career with Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey and other stars on the 1938 Yankees team that won the World Series, and finished with Bob Feller and more Cleveland luminaries in 1950.

General manager Dave Dombrowski wasted little time on the opening day of baseball's winter meetings in taking care of one of Detroit's biggest needs.

The Tigers acquired catcher Gerald Laird from the Texas Rangers in a trade that sent right-handed pitching prospects Guillermo Moscoso and Carlos Melo to Texas, shoring up a position Dombrowski considered a key this winter.

Jeff Conine, who played for two World Series championship teams with Florida, has rejoined the organization as a special assistant to team president David Samson. Conine played in 1,014 games for the Marlins, including their first game in 1993, and is nicknamed "Mr. Marlin."