Called to the Hall

Chipper Jones (above), Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome (below) and Trevor Hoffman are Cooperstown's Class of 2018. All exceeded 75% of the vote by eligible members of the Baseball Writers Association.
Edgar Martinez again had growing support. He was named on over 70% of the ballots. And with only two virtual locks going on next year's ballot, Mariano Rivera and Roy Halladay, the odds are better that the Mariners legend will go in alongside Rivera, who more than once called him the toughest batter he ever faced.

As for the others on the ballot:

  • Mike Mussina, 63.5%
  • Roger Clemens, 57.3
  • Barry Bonds, 56.4
  • Curt Schilling, 51.2
  • Omar Vizquel, 37
  • Larry Walker, 34.1
  • Fred McGriff, 23.2
  • Manny Ramirez, 22
  • Jeff Kent, 14.5
  • Gary Sheffield, 11.1
  • Billy Wagner, 11.1
  • Scott Rolen, 10.2
  • Sammy Sosa, 7.8
  • Andruw Jones, 7.2 

Receiving less than five percent support and dropping off future ballots:

  • Jamie Moyer, 2.4
  • Johan Santana, 2.4
  • Johnny Damon, 1.9
  • Hideki Matsui, 0.9
  • Chris Carpenter, 0.5
  • Kerry Wood, 0.5
  • Livan Hernandez, 0.2
  • Carlos Lee, 0.2

  • Orlando Hudson, Aubrey Huff, Jason Isringhausen, Brad Lidge, Kevin Millwood and Carlos Zambrano received no votes.
That five percent rule, designed to separate pretenders from contenders, eliminated two names that I felt deserved strong consideration. As I noted yesterday, Johan Santana had seven outstanding seasons, one more than icons and inductees Sandy Koufax and Dizzy Dean. Dropping Santana so soon borders on short-sighted injustice. And Hideki Matsui, a star in the U.S. and an icon in his native Japan, is the kind of global star that makes it easier to market baseball in all corners of the world as well as to Americans of Japanese ancestry.

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