Four players get called to the Hall
Thome, Guerrero, Hoffman, Jones voted in by writers
Five years after shutting out all candidates, baseball’s Hall of Fame continues to swing its doors wide open.
For the fourth time since 2014, at least three new members joined the game’s most exalted club as Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero and Trevor Hoffman were voted in by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Worthy aspirants such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, held back for years by allegations of using performance-enhancing drugs, remained mired below the 60% mark, while slugger Edgar Martinez moved to the doorstep of the magic figure in his penultimate year on the ballot.
The writers elected only four players between 2010 and 2013, causing considerable consternation with the shutout in that last year. Since then, the BBWAA has given its stamp of approval to 16 greats, including 13 over the past four years, the largest number ever in such a span.
There was little doubt Jones and Thome would burst through on their first year of eligibility.
Jones, who played his whole 19-year career with the Atlanta Braves, becomes the second No. 1 overall draft pick to reach the Hall, after Ken Griffey Jr. in
2016. Jones didn’t fall too far behind Griffey’s record-setting 99.3% of the vote, getting named on 97.2% of the ballots.
“This is just mind-blowing to me,” Jones said on MLB Network. “To go in as a third baseman with the (Mike) Schmidts and the (George) Bretts and the Brooks (Robinson) and the (Wade) Boggs, and switch-hitters like (Mickey) Mantle and (Eddie) Murray, all the guys I put on a pedestal as a young kid, to now be elbow-to-elbow with them, I wouldn’t be surprised if I got tonguetied the first time I run across all those guys.”
An eight-time All-Star and the 1999 National League MVP, Jones had a career batting average of .303 with 468 home runs. He ranks third all time in home runs by a third baseman and also third among switch-hitters. Jones is one of only nine players to combine at least a
.300 average, .400 on-base percentage,
.500 slugging percentage and 400 home runs. Seven of the other eight are in the Hall of Fame.
Thome, also initially a third baseman, made his mark mainly with his power and keen batting eye. In a 22-year career that included 12 seasons with the Cleveland Indians, Thome compiled 612 home runs and 1,747 walks, ranking eighth and seventh, respectively, on the all-time list.
He drove in at least 100 runs nine times, had a career on-base plus slugging percentage of .956 and was universally beloved as a teammate wherever he played. Thome received 89.8% of the vote.
“When you become a Hall of Famer, everybody sees the big steps, they see the numbers,” Thome said. “But what I don’t think they see is the downsides that we all as players go through, and those long hours with guys like (former manager and hitting coach) Charlie Manuel … and my father, all the countless hours as a kid having dad throw me batting practice, hit ground balls. It’s much more than all the things people see. It’s about sweat equity and getting after it.”
Guerrero, who nearly missed gaining admission last year on his first try, made it easily this time by garnering 92.9% of support to become the first Dominicanborn position player in the Hall. He will join pitching countrymen Juan Marichal and Pedro Martinez in Cooperstown.
After overcoming a childhood of poverty in the tiny town of Don Gregorio, Guerrero become one of baseball’s most riveting players, a five-tool right fielder who made nine All-Star teams in his 16 seasons and won the 2004 American League MVP award. His combination of a career .318 batting average and .553 slugging percentage is matched or surpassed by only seven players in history, all of them Hall of Famers.
Hoffman, who spent 15 1⁄2 of his 18 sea2 sons with the San Diego Padres, ranks second in career saves with 601 and was the first pitcher to reach the 500- and 600-save marks. In a 15-year span, he recorded at least 30 saves 14 times, twice finishing in the top 10 in the MVP voting.
Hoffman came within one percentage point of election last year but faced some skepticism because closers like him typically pitch about one-third of the innings of top starters. Still, he gained entry on his third try with 79.9% of the votes.
Bonds and Clemens have also seen an increase in support as attitudes toward suspected PED users have softened and the voting ranks have been purged of inactive writers.
Running on parallel tracks, they have gone from a mid-30s debut in 2013 to mid-50s last year.
This time, there was no such meaningful bump.
Bonds garnered 56.4% of the vote and Clemens 57.3%, as their clock begins to run out.
Martinez was named on a personalbest 70.2% of the ballots, his 297 votes falling 20 shy of the induction line. He will be in his final year of eligibility next season, but with four players coming off the ballot and saves leader Mariano Rivera the only sure-fire electee in 2019, Martinez has an excellent chance to earn induction on his final try.