Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman were elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday, making up the 2018 class.
Jones and Thome both bade it on their first year on the ballot, while Guerrero made it on his second opportunity, and Hoffman his third. They join Alan Trammell and Jack Morris, who were voted in by the Modern Era Committee this past December.
Jones and Thome were considered to be locks to make it as first-ballot candidates, and that ended up being the case as they received 97.2 percent and 89.8 percent of the vote, respectively. Guerrero (92.9 percent) and Hoffman (79.9) both fell just short a year ago, but made it comfortably this year.
Among the candidates who fell short of receiving the 75 percent needed to get into the Hall of Fame were Edgar Martinez (70.4), Mike Mussina (63.5), Roger Clemens (57.3), Barry Bonds (56.4), Curt Schilling (51.2), Omar Vizquel (37), Larry Walker (34.1), Fred McGriff (23.2), Manny Ramirez (22), Jeff Kent (14.5), Sammy Sosa (7.8) and Andruw Jones (7.3).
Johan Santana (2.4), Jamie Moyer (2.4) and Johnny Damon (1.9) were among the players to fall off future Hall of Fame ballots. Five percent of the final vote is needed to remain.
Jones spent his entire 19-year Major League career with the Atlanta Braves. He was named an All-Star eight times, won the 1999 National League MVP and a World Series in 1995. The switch-hitter had a career .930 on-base plus slugging percentage while hitting 468 home runs.
Guerrero was a nine-time All-Star and eight-time Silver Slugger Award winner in his 16 seasons with the Montreal Expos and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He won the American League MVP Award in 2004 and was widely known as being one of the best bad-ball hitters ever and for having an outstanding arm in right field.
Thome, who played for six different teams across 22 seasons, including a short span with the Los Angeles Dodgers, ranks eighth all-time with 612 home runs. He was an All-Star five times throughout his career.
Hoffman is a player that Dodgers fans are very familiar with for the time he spent with the San Diego Padres. The seven-time All-Star ranks second all-time with 601 career saves.
Among the candidates who will be eligible for the first time in 2019 are Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Todd Helton, Andy Pettite and Lance Berkman.
