Photo credit LA Angels: LA Angels announcer Jose Mota (left), Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero (center) and LA Angels announcer Amaury Pi-Gonzalez (right)

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

Larry “Chipper” Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman are part of the one percent of all the MLB players in history that have been able to make it to the most prestigious sports Hall of Fame in America. Today, the votes were made public and on July 29, this quartet will be enshrined at Cooperstown, New York. Combined with the induction last December of Jack Morris and Allan Trammel (Modern Baseball Era Committee selection), that means a total of six players’ plaques will be unveiled this July 29 at Cooperstown. This ties the maximum inducted in this decade, with the 2014 class of Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas, Tom Glavine, Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre.

The official announcement was made Wednesday live on MLB Network around 3 pm PT. Chipper Jones made it on his first try, while Vladimir Guerrero and Trevor Hoffman were very close in 2017 and were expected to make it this year.

Here was the final percentage of the vote: (at least 75% needed to get in)

Larry “Chipper” Jones: 97.2

Vladimir Guerrero: 92.7

Jim Thome: 89.8

Trevor Hoffman: 79.9

In their sixth year of eligibility, these three got a slight increase from 2017 totals, but still fell short:

Roger Clemens: 57.3

Barry Bonds: 56.4

Curt Schilling: 51.2

Many believed Edgar Martinez was going to make it this year, but he ended up with 70.4 percent. However, his numbers have been trending up and could easily be elected next season. In the history of designated hitters, he was one of the very best. It is always a disadvantage and I know baseball fans as well as professionals that have seen many decades of baseball who still believe that the DH should not be in the Hall of Fame. For the record, Martinez played 16 years in the majors, and 12 of those years he played third-base, also play some first base.

Jones will be inducted with the Atlanta Braves uniform, Jim Thome with the Cleveland Indians, Trevor Hoffman with the San Diego Padres; but to this day, we do not know if Vladimir Guerrero is going with the Montreal Expos or the Los Angeles Angels. He played for the Expos in his first eight years, the next six with the Angels, and the final two: one year with Rangers and one with the Ori.

Last year, Guerrero sat with yours truly and my broadcast partner Jose Mota at Angel Stadium’s FOX Sports (Spanish) telecast. I believe he was tilting towards going in as an Angel. As a matter of fact, he was there because the Angels retired his #27 jersey prior to the game.

The 2019 first time eligible are:

Mariano Rivera

Roy Halladay

Todd Helton

Andy Pettitte

Lance Berkman

I would say you can bet your house that Mariano Rivera will go in. The American League Reliever of the Year is called “The Mariano Rivera Reliever of the Year. He ended his career with a record 652 saves. If he doesn’t get in next year, there should be an investigation in Washington D.C. Also, I do not even want to think what would happen in Panama.