The Baseball Writers Association of America has announced the names of the four players who have been selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame. The association made this announcement on Wednesday. The four elected players name are Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman. Well, Jones and Thome were both elected in their first year of eligibility. With this, this is the fourth time that the association has selected four players in a year. In the years 1947, 1955 and 2015 the association had also elected four players to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Jones has been selected on 410 of 442 ballots, and he received 97.2 percent of the vote. Jones said, “It was waterworks.”
The fourth will enter the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 29 in Cooperstown, New York. They will join with renowned committee inductees Jack Morris and Alan Trammell. To get elected to the Hall of Fame a player needs to secure 75 percent for election or 317 votes. Edgar Martinez came close left behind by just 20 votes. Roger Clemens, who was picked on 57.3 percent of ballots, and Barry Bonds 56.4 percent of ballots both corrupted by the steroids scandal.
An eight-time All-Star, Jones who played all 19 seasons for the Atlanta Braves ranked third in home runs. He had a career of 303 batting average with 468 home runs.
Jones state “I don’t know how you tabulate or calculate WAR. What I want to see is batting average, on-base percentage runs produced.”
Among the four new members, Jones was the only one who has won a World Series. He joins Ken Griffey Jr. as the only overall No. 1 draft picks to reach the Hall.
Over the past five years, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America has been elected 16 players to the Hall of Fame breaking the previous mark of 13 from 1952 to 1956.
