For the sixth year in a row, baseball’s home run king and a seven-time Cy Young winner have both been refused entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Neither Barry Bonds, the second-greatest hitter of all-time by fWAR, nor Roger Clemens, the best pitcher ever by that same stat, cleared the 75 percent vote threshold required by the BBWAA for induction into the Hall. Clemens got 57.3 percent, while Bonds received 56.4 percent.
Inducted instead were lifetime Atlanta Brave Chipper Jones, who led the way with 97.2 percent in his first eligible year; all-around powerhouse outfielder Vlad Guerrero; 612-dong smacker Jim Thome; and 601-save getter Trevor Hoffman. However, Mariners DH Edgar Martinez, a celebrated candidate for many in baseball, fell just short, earning 70.4 percent in his ninth of 10 eligible years for induction.
The full results, via the BBWAA:
Jones, Guerrero, Thome and Hoffman will be inducted in July along with Alan Trammell and Jack Morris, who got into the Hall by way of the Modern Baseball Era Committee back in December. All of them were very good players.