Los Angeles—In its ninth annual
Hall of Fame election announced Wednesday, the IBWAA (Internet Baseball Writers Association of America) added six players to its 'digital' Hall of Fame.
Chipper Jones was the top vote-getter, with 168 out of 170 ballots cast (98.82%).
Jim Thome was the runner-up, with 154 votes (90.59%), followed by
Mike Mussina (146 votes, 85.88%),
Roger Clemens (133, 78.24%),
Barry Bonds (130, 76.47%) and
Trevor Hoffman (128, 75.29%). A 75% threshold is required for election.
Edgar Martinez (2016) and Vladimir Guerrero (2017) did not appear on the 2018 IBWAA Hall of Fame ballot because they have already been elected in previous years. With those exceptions, the IBWAA ballot was identical to the one used by the BBWAA. All voting is done electronically. Per a group decision in January, 2014,
the IBWAA allows members to vote for up to 15 players, instead of the previous 10, beginning with the 2015 election. In the 2018 election, 95 members voted for 10 or more candidates. Twenty-seven members voted for 15 candidates. The average vote per member was 10.10.
(Editor's Note: FenwayNation's Editor-In-Chief Ernie Paicopolos and International Editor Mark Lawrence are both voting members of the IBWAA).
