Baseball Hall of Fame 2018: Voting results and new members of Cooperstown

This year’s Baseball Hall of Fame inductees have been announced, based on votes from members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Trevor Hoffman, and Vladimir Guerrero will all join Alan Trammell and Jack Morris in this year’s Hall of Fame class.

Jones got in with a whopping final vote percentage of 97.2 percent, while Thome received 89.8 percent of the vote, and Guerrero received 92.9 percent. Hoffman made it with 79.9 percent of the vote. With only one year of eligibility remaining, Edgar Martinez failed to make the cut, collecting 70.4 percent of the votes. It was his second close call in a row but bodes well for his chances of getting in next year in his last year of eligibility as he was just 20 votes shy.

Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Mike Mussina all received more than 50 percent of the vote.

Players like Hideki Matsui, Jamie Moyer, and Johan Santana dropped off the ballot this year, netting less than 5 percent of the votes. Sammy Sosa and Andruw Jones will get another shot on the ballot with their names appearing on a shade more than 7 percent of the ballots.

With four players entering this year, the BBWAA will have chosen the largest group of entrants in quite a few years. Last year had Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Iván Rodríguez making the cut while the year before had only a duo Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza going in to the Hall. It’s only the second time since 1955 that four players have gone in together.

Jones retired in 2012 after 19 years in the majors. He finished his career with 2,726 hits, 468 homers, and one NL MVP win. A switch hitter, he also hit better than .300 from both sides of the plate. His numbers are remarkably consistent. He never hit below .248 in a full season — which came during his worst season in 2004 -- or slugged lower than .426. The way he was able to sustain success is a major argument for his first-ballot status.

Thome, the other first-ballot entrant this year, spent 22 years in the majors with six teams, although the majority of his career came with Cleveland. He hit 612 home runs in that span in only 2,543 games and had 1,699 RBI. His offense is by far what got him into the Hall — especially as a first-ballot selection — and his offense is what people will remember him for.

Guerrero’s offensive numbers aren’t as amazing as Thome’s, and he didn’t have the longevity of Jones, but he’s still a worthy entrant into the Hall. He had a career line of .318/.379/.553 over his 16 years in the league, and he hit 449 home runs by the time he retired. He’s just the third player from the Dominican Republic to be inducted into Cooperstown.

Hoffman, who as noted fell short in 2017 by the slimmest of margins by receiving only 74 percent of the vote, is the fifth reliever to enter the Hall after Goose Gossage, Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, and Bruce Sutter. He pitched in 1,035 games with a 2.87 ERA and only 2.5 walks per nine innings. He was always going in the Hall of Fame, it just depended on how fast voters would get over themselves and add another reliever to the ranks.

It’s a strong class for 2018, and there are some great names all queued up to get in next year as well.

---

The story of baseball’s first home run hitter