Baseball celebrated Wednesday with the election of four worthy Hall of Famers: third baseman and switch-hitter extraordinaire Chipper Jones; gentleman slugger Jim Thome; free-swinging Vladimir Guerrero, who never saw a pitch he couldn’t clobber; and closer Trevor Hoffman, the first pitcher to notch 600 saves.
It was a no-muss, no-fuss day for America’s pastime, free of controversy and the dark cloud of steroids.
Sure, there remain some curmudgeonly, old-time members of the Baseball Writers Association of American who can’t bring themselves to vote for Hoffman; the thought being that almost all relievers should be kept out of Cooperstown.