Jones, Thome, Guerrero And Hoffman Elected to HOF

Third baseman Chipper Jones, first baseman Jim Thome, outfielder Vladimir Guerrero and closer Trevor Hoffman were elected to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday evening, Hall president Jeff Idelson announced.

Jones, Thome, Hoffman and Guerrero will be inducted on July 29 in Cooperstown, N.Y. It is the second time in four years that four players have been inducted in one class by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Jones received 97.2 percent of the vote to be inducted in his first year on the ballot. The No. 1 overall pick in 1990 by the Braves, Jones becomes just the second top overall pick elected to the Hall of Fame, joining Ken Griffey Jr. He finished his career as one of only nine players—and the only switch-hitter—in baseball history with a .300 batting average, .400 on-base percentage, .500 slugging percentage and 400 home runs.

Guerrero received 92.9 percent of the vote in his second year on the ballot. The native Dominican was a nine-time All-Star, eight-time Silver Slugger award winner and 2004 American League MVP award winner. He batted .300 in 13 of his 16 seasons, including 12 seasons in a row, had four 200-hit seasons, 10 seasons of at least 100 RBIs and scored 100 or more runs in a season six times.

Thome received 89.8 percent of the vote in his first year on the ballot. The slugging first baseman hit 612 home runs, eighth-most all-time, and was a five-time All-Star. He is one of only five players in major league history with at least 500 home runs, 1,500 runs, 1,600 RBI and 1,700 walks, along with Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Ted Williams and Mel Ott.

Hoffman received 79.9 percent in his third year of eligibility, after missing election by five votes last year. A converted shortstop who was nearly released by the Reds before switching to pitching, Hoffman went on to break the all-time saves record (since broken by Mariano Rivera) and finished with 601 career saves. He was a seven-time All-Star and finished in the top 10 of Cy Young Award voting four times, including runner-up finishes in 1998 and 2006.

Edgar Martinez (70.4 percent) finished 20 votes shy of election, the closest of any candidate not elected. Mike Mussina (63.5), Roger Clemens (57.3), Barry Bonds (56.4) and Curt Schilling (51.2) were also named on at least half the ballots.

The complete voting results

*Elected to Hall Of Fame

*Chipper Jones 410 (97.2 percent) *Vladimir Guerrero 392 (92.9) *Jim Thome 379 (89.8) *Trevor Hoffman 337 (79.9) Edgar Martinez 297 (70.4) Mike Mussina 268 (63.5) Roger Clemens 242 (57.3) Barry Bonds 238 (56.4) Curt Schilling 216 (51.2) Omar Vizquel 156 (37.0) Larry Walker 144 (34.1) Fred McGriff 98 (23.2) Manny Ramirez 93 (22.0) Jeff Kent 61 (14.5) Gary Sheffield 47 (11.1) Billy Wagner 47 (11.1) Scott Rolen 43 (10.2) Sammy Sosa 33 (7.8) Andruw Jones 31 (7.3) Jamie Moyer 10 (2.4) Johann Santana 10 (2.4) Johnny Damon 8 (1.9) Hideki Matsui 4 (0.9) Chris Carpenter 2 (0.5) Kerry Wood 2 (0.5) Livan Hernandez 1 (0.2) Carlos Lee 1 (0.2) Orlando Hudson 0 Aubrey Huff 0 Jason Isringhausen 0 Brad Lidge Kevin Millwood 0 Carlos Zambrano 0