Chipper heads quite a quartet
The Baseball Hall of Fame has rarely had a class like this.
On Wednesday it welcomed four new members — Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero and Trevor Hoffman — in voting by the baseball writers. A smaller committee elected two other players, Jack Morris and Alan Trammell, in December.
The six living inductees match the most ever and will be honored at a ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y., on July 29. The only other class of newcomers with six living playerinductees was in 1955, when Home Run Baker, Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Ted Lyons, Ray Schalk and Dazzy Vance made it.
This year’s class was
nearly even bigger — Edgar Martinez missed induction by 20 votes, collecting 70.4 percent of ballots from the 422 voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Others who gained more than half the votes, but fell short of the 75 percent threshold for induction, were Mike Mussina (63.5 percent), Roger Clemens (57.3), Barry Bonds (56.4) and Curt Schilling (51.2).
Bonds is the career home run leader, and Clemens, who won his seventh Cy Young Award during his 2004-06 stint with the Astros, is the only pitcher in history with 350 wins and 4,000 strikeouts. But both have ties to performance-enhancing drug use and failed to gain election on their sixth try. Candidates can remain on the ballot for 10 years, as long as they receive at least 5 percent of the vote.
Jones, who in his first year on the ballot received support from 97.2 percent of the voters, threw his new Hall of Fame hat into the ring for Bonds and Clemens.
“Obviously, I have no problem, and I’ve said it publicly often: Barry Bonds is the best baseball player I’ve ever seen put on a uniform,” Jones said. “It’s unfortunate that some of the best players of this era have a cloud of suspicion, because you’re talking about some all-timers, guys that would be considered the greatest player of all time, the greatest pitcher of all time.”
Jones, the National League’s MVP in 1999, played 19 seasons for the Atlanta Braves, hitting .303 with a .401 on-base percentage and a .529 slugging percentage. He hit .323 in 470 career atbats versus the Astros.
“It was waterworks,” Jones said of receiving the call.
Thome, also in his first year of eligibility, drew support on 89.8 percent of the ballots. Guerrero (92.9 percent) and Hoffman (79.9) made it on their second try.
Thome slammed 612 home runs (eighth all-time) across 22 seasons, including 13 years with the Cleveland Indians. The slugger praised his longtime hitting coach, Charlie Manuel, for all the work they did together.
“It’s about sweat equity and getting after it,” Thome said on MLB Network.
Guerrero was the last superstar for the Montreal Expos, then moved to the Los Angeles Angels in 2004 (the Expos left for Washington a year later) and won the American League’s MVP award in his first season in Anaheim. After six years there, Guerrero helped lead the Texas Rangers to their first AL pennant in 2010.
Only five players can match Guerrero’s career figures in both batting average (.318) and home runs (449): Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx and Stan Musial. A classic “bad ball” hitter, Guerrero could hit nearly any pitch in any location. He said he developed that talent as a kid in the Dominican Republic, playing a game similar to cricket in which hitters swung broomsticks while pitchers tried to bounce balls past them and knock over folded license plates.
“That opened up my hitting zone,” Guerrero said through a translator.
Hoffman retired in 2010 as the career saves leader with 601 (552 for the San Diego Padres). Only Mariano Rivera has passed him.
“You can’t do anything to enhance your career after not getting that call,” said Hoffman, who fell five votes short of election in 2017. “I’m not worried about whatever year it is. I’m ecstatic to get in.”
Rivera is up for election next year. Former Astros Lance Berkman and Andy Pettitte will also be first-time candidates, as will Roy Halladay and Todd Helton.