WASHINGTON — The National Baseball Hall of Fame welcomed four new members to Cooperstown Wednesday. Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome, and Trevor Hoffman will comprise the 2018 class.
Jones and Thome were the two first-ballot members of this year’s class. Jones received 97.2 percent of the vote, ranking him in the top ten in that category. The 19-year veteran of the Atlanta Braves won the 1999 NL MVP, and the eight-time All-Star finished his career with a .303 batting average and 468 home runs.
Thome (89.8 percent of the vote) slugged 612 home runs over a 22-year career, including six seasons of 40 or more. He is one of just nine players to eclipse the 600 home run mark.
Guerrero (71.7 percent) and Hoffman (74 percent) were both near-misses on last year’s ballot, but each got over the 75-percent threshold for induction this year. A nine-time All-Star, Guerrero (92.9 percent of the vote) won the 2004 AL MVP and garnered MVP votes in 12 of his 16 years on the diamond. He also slugged 25 or more home runs in 11 straight seasons, finishing his career with a 140 OPS+ that ranks in the top 75 of all time.
Hoffman (79.9 percent of the vote) is just one of two closers, along with Mariano Rivera, to record 600 career saves, with no one else topping 500. His 18-year career was punctuated by a pair of Cy Young runner-up finishes. He had a dozen campaigns of 37 or more saves and finished his career with a stellar 2.87 ERA.
Edgar Martinez (70.4), Mike Mussina (63.5), Roger Clemens (57.3), and Barry Bonds (56.4) all received more than 50 percent of the vote, but failed to reach the threshold for induction.
