Jim Thome Elected Into Baseball Hall Of Fame

Every kid growing up playing sports dreams of two things, hitting the game-winner in a championship game and being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Jones and Thome made it on their first year on the ballot, Guerrero got in on his second, while the third time was the charm for Hoffman.

Then there’s Guerrero, who got 92.9 percent of vote on his second attempt after falling just short previous year. There were no surprises in that regard. While he is still behind Bonds and Clemens, he has trended upward more than the other two in most years.

The amusing thing is, as Buster Olney noted earlier, baseball has largely accepted Bonds and Clemens. Schilling has a borderline Hall of Fame case that would be a lot stronger in the eyes of voters if not for his anti-Muslim, anti-transgender and anti-journalist rhetoric. At 42, he is also the youngest member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Ten-year limits on the ballot also put inductees on the clock, meaning if you don’t get elected after a decade players are set aside for the veterans committee to debate. This influence by the Hall of Fame is disingenuous.

Not approved, again: ace pitcher Roger Clemens and home run kings Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, who have been strongly tied to performance-enhancing drugs. Rivera and Jeter will be first ballot Hall of Famers for sure.

Finally, Hoffman received 79.9 percent of votes in his third year of eligibility.

The results of the voting were announced Monday night.

Last year, Hoffman was five votes short and Guerrero 15 shy of induction, while Clemens got at 54.1% of the vote and Bonds come in at 53.8%. To me Scott Rolen is a much more worthy candidate, and is being vastly overlooked. He received 410 of 422 votes (97.2 percent). Martinez, who would become the first player mostly used as a DH, has just one more year on the ballot before he is kicked off the ballot. From 2010-2013, the writers only voted in four players, angering many. I personally think both should be in, largely because, as I stated above, both were winning awards commensurate with the best in the game before their physiques changed in any noticeable way.

Former Montreal Expos outfielder Vladimir Guerrero has been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Next year is the last of Martinez’s 10 years on the BBWAA ballot.

Vlad is if not one of the best bad-ball hitters of all time, there was no pitch this guy couldn’t hit. There isn’t a close second.