Guerrero, Jones lead worthy Hall of Fame class

Steve Phillips

TSN Baseball Insider

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This year’s Baseball Hall of Fame class includes four of the game’s greats: Vladimir Guerrero, Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman.

The four being elected this year by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America makes 13 players in the last four years ­– the most ever over a four-year period. This year’s class will also include Alan Trammell and Jack Morris who were elected by the Modern Era Committee.  

I had the opportunity to see the greatness of some members of the 2018 class up close during my time with the Mets.

Guerrero, who got 92.9 per cent of the vote, was the hitter I feared most when he walked to the plate.

He never got cheated, and jumped out of his shoes when he saw a fastball. Any fastball. It just had to be somewhere close to the plate. Guerrero would load up and uncoil on every swing. There were times he would miss and spin himself into the ground. He may have missed by three feet on a swing but it never bothered him. He could crush the next pitch over the wall, as he did 449 times.

Despite his big swing, Guerrero was a contact hitter. He never struck out 100 times in a season and his .318/.379/.553 career slash line is elite. Consider that his worst season was his last, at the age of 36, and he hit .290 that year.

Although Guerrero announced his intention to go into the Hall wearing an Angels cap, he should have represented the Montreal Expos in Cooperstown. He played eight seasons in Montreal, six in Anaheim, one in Texas and one in Baltimore. His numbers are better in almost every offensive category as a member of the Expos than anywhere else he played.

He also should have been put in last year – his first on the ballot – but the high percentage of votes Guerrero received this year seems to acknowledge the oversight.

I actually take some ownership in Jones’ Hall-of-Fame career. He was my nemesis. His Braves teams always had our number. We just couldn’t beat him.

Jones appeared on 410 of the 422 ballots cast (97.2 per cent). He was an eight-time All-Star, earned two Silver Slugger Awards and won the 1999 National League MVP. In fact, he received MVP votes in 13 different seasons during his 19-year career.

Jones was the leader of a Braves franchise that made it to the playoffs in each of his first 11 full seasons in the majors. He’s one of the best switch hitters to ever play the game, having hit .303/.401/.529 with 468 homers, 1,623 RBI and 1,619 runs scored. He also won the 2008 NL batting title. He is the first switch hitter to hit over .300 from both sides of the plate.

Our fans would mock him by chanting his given name, “Larry, Larry!” It didn’t faze him in the least. He had more hits, homers, total bases and runs scored at Shea Stadium than any other road park. He dominated us so much that he even named one of his sons Shea. He just blatantly rubbed our noses into the ground with that.

Some thoughts on the other inductees:

- Thome’s 612 home runs are the eighth most in baseball history. His career .402 OBP was a byproduct of his 1,747 base on balls (seventh most). He slugged .554 (23rd all-time) over his 22-year career.  On the negative side, Thome struck out (2,548) the second most times in history, behind only Reggie Jackson’s 2,597. In fact, Thome ranks fourth all-time in “Three True Outcomes” from his at-bats. Amazingly, 47.6 per cent of Thome’s 10,313 plate appearances ended in either a home run, walk or strikeout. He’s also one of the nicest guys ever elected to the Hall of Fame. Thome received 379 votes (89.8 per cent).

- Hoffman’s 601 saves are the second most ever, behind only the great Mariano Rivera. Just as designated hitters have been discriminated against by Hall voters, so too have closers. They have to do more because they pitch less than starters. Hoffman certainly did more, averaging more than 33 saves per year for 18 seasons. Hoffman received 79.9 per cent of the vote (337 votes).

Although four players have been elected in, there are others who moved closer to the 75 per cent and have more hope in the future for induction. Edgar Martinez just missed getting in this year (70.4 per cent) but looks like he has a good chance of getting elected next year, his final year on the ballot. He gained a significant number of votes from 2016’s 58.6 per cent as the writers seem to be more comfortable with recognizing a designated hitter in the Hall. 

Mike Mussina (63.5 per cent, up from 51.8 per cent in 2017) and Curt Schilling (51.2 per cent, up from 45 per cent in 2017) both took a step forward in their candidacies as the baseball writers are looking deeper at their performance and the division and era in which they thrived. I believe at some point they will both get in the Hall.

The other player who got a second look from a significant number of writers is Larry Walker. The Canadian took a pretty big jump forward this year (34.1 per cent, up from 21.9 per cent in 2017) as voters looked beyond the Coors Field factor in his numbers and started to appreciate his overall game.

The reality is that 69 per cent of Walker’s plate appearances came away from Coors Field. Walker was a feared hitter no matter which ballpark he was in, but his defence and base running were often game-changers too. Walker still has a long way to go to get to the 75 per cent mark and only two more years on the ballot, but the momentum is certainly trending in the right direction. He’s a no-brainer Hall of Famer for me.

Mark your calendar: Sunday July 29 will be an induction ceremony like Cooperstown has rarely seen. Fans from Atlanta, Montreal, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Anaheim, Detroit and the Dominican Republic will flood the tiny village in central New York.