Chipper Jones Leads Hall of Fame Pack

There were two absolute locks on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot…Chipper Jones and Jim Thome.

Add to that, Trevor Hoffman and Vladimir Guerrero missing by a combined 20 votes a year ago and we already knew baseball’s Hall of Fame Class of 2018 had the chance of being more than stacked.

So…how did it all shake out? With 97.2% of the vote, the Atlanta Braves superstar became just the second first overall pick (Ken Griffey Jr. is the other) to be ushered through the doors in Cooperstown. Joining him are fellow sluggers Guerrero (92.9%), a longtime member of the Montreal Expos and Thome (89.8%) and his 612 home runs. Hoffman who narrowly missed the cut least season after falling five votes shy, rounds out the class of four with 79.9%

Making huge strides on this year’s ballot were Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina. The designated hitter extraordinaire just missed induction with 70.4% of the vote…up from last year’s 58.6%. In his fifth year on the ballot, Mussina jumped from 51.8% to 63.5%.

Joining the four new inductees on July 29 at the Clark Sports Center… Modern Baseball Era inductees Jack Morris and Alan Trammell, Ford C. Frick Award winner Bob Costas and The J.G. Taylor Spink Award recipient Sheldon Ocker.

Here’s the breakdown among the top vote getters.

• Chipper Jones (97.2%, first time on the ballot)
• Vladimir Guerrero (92.9%, 71.7% last year)
• Jim Thome (89.8%, first time on ballot)
• Trevor Hoffman (79.9%, 74.0% last year)
  

• Edgar Martinez (70.4%, 58.6%)
• Mike Mussina (63.5%, 51.8%)
• Roger Clemens (57.3%, 54.1%)
• Barry Bonds (56.4%, 53.8%)
• Curt Schilling (51.2%, 45.0%)
• Omar Vizquel (37.0%, first time on ballot)
• Larry Walker (34.1%, 21.9%)
• Fred McGriff (23.2%, 21.7%)
• Manny Ramirez (22.0%, 23.8%)
• Jeff Kent (14.5%, 16.7%)
• Gary Sheffield (11.1%, 13.3%)
• Billy Wagner (11.1%, 10.2%)
• Scott Rolen (10.2%, first time on ballot)
• Sammy Sosa (7.8%, 8.6%)
• Andruw Jones (7.3%, first time on ballot)

To see how actual numbers stacked up against the much hyped 2018 BBHOF Tracker…click HERE.