The results are in: Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome, and Trevor Hoffman are the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Along with Alan Trammell and Jack Morris, who were elected via the Modern Baseball Era committee, the newest elects will be celebrated in Cooperstown, New York, this upcoming summer.
Jones was selected in his first year of eligibility, garnering 97.2 percent of the 422 casted votes, the 11th-highest total percentage of votes a player has ever received. In 19 MLB seasons, Jones hit .303/.401/.529 with a 141 wRC+ and accumulated 84.6 fWAR, the 30th best mark among position players in MLB history. Jones’ 468 home runs are the third most by a switch hitter behind Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray. Jones was an eight-time All-Star and won the 1999 National League MVP with the Atlanta Braves, the organization he spent his entire career with.
Guerrero missed Hall of Fame election by 15 votes in 2017 but he made it on his second try in 2018, receiving 92.9 percent of the votes. Guerrero is a career .318/.379/.553 hitter who hit 449 home runs and stole 181 bases. His 54.3 fWAR may be a tad lower than many inductees, but in his prime from 1998-2007, Guerrero was one of baseball’s elite players, hitting .327/.394/.586 with 50.2 fWAR during that time. Guerrero was the 2004 American League MVP with the Anaheim Angels and was a nine-time All-Star.
Thome, like Jones, was elected in his first year of eligibility, taking home 89.8 percent of the votes on his first try. Thome was a career .276/.402/.554 hitter who made a career out of showcasing elite plate discipline and power. He slammed 612 home runs in his career, the eighth-highest total in MLB history, and he ranks 55th in on-base percentage and 23rd in slugging percentage. Thome was a five-time All-Star and ranks 64th among position players with 69.0 fWAR.
Rounding out the ballot is Hoffman, one of the best relief pitchers in baseball history, who took home 79.9 percent of the votes. Hoffman missed Hall of Fame election by five votes in 2017 but received a significant boost this year. Hoffman was a seven-time All-Star, ranks second with 602 career saves, and posted 26.1 fWAR, the third-highest total ever by a reliever. Among relievers who tossed at least 1,000 innings, Hoffman ranks 10th with a 2.87 ERA.
Notably missing from the ballot is Edgar Martinez, who was on the brink of election based on public ballot tracking but fell just short when all the votes were tallied. Martinez fell short by 20 votes, taking home 70.4 percent of the votes in his ninth year of eligibility. He will have one more crack at it in 2019 before he is dropped off the ballot.
Four other players received at least half of the votes: Mike Mussina (63.5 percent), Roger Clemens (57.3), Barry Bonds (56.4), and Curt Schilling (51.2). All four improved upon their 2017 results, but only Mussina showed a significant increase, jumping from 51.8 to 63.5 percent. Bonds, Clemens, and Schilling have just four years remaining on the ballot, meaning they’ll need some serious improvements in the future to be elected.
First-year players who received enough votes to remain on the ballot were Omar Vizquel (37 percent), Scott Rolen (10.2), and Andruw Jones (7.3). Other players who remained on the ballot include Larry Walker (34.1), Manny Ramirez (22), Gary Sheffield (11.1), Sammy Sosa (7.8), Billy Wagner (11.1), Fred McGriff (23.2), and Jeff Kent (14.5). Johan Santana received just 2.4 percent of the votes and fell off the ballot.
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