The path to the Hall of Fame for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens looks very much closed, at least for now.
If the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Ballot was supposed to give them a better chance to get elected than the traditional BBWAA balloting process, then so much for that. Bonds and Clemens both got fewer than four votes from the 16-member committee. At least 12 were needed for election, with Fred McGriff being the only player to hit that mark. Fellow steroid user Rafael Palmeiro also got less than four votes.
In their last year of eligibility on the BBWAA ballot, Bonds received 66 percent of the vote and Clemens got 65.2 percent.
There was a notable uptick in voting for Bonds and Clemens over their 10 years on the BBWAA ballot as more writers came around to the idea that steroid usage should not be disqualifying for the Hall of Fame. Others suspected that current members of the Hall from that era were likely users as well, but just not caught.
Roger Clemens throws out first pitch at Astros-Yankees ALCS game.MLB Photos via Getty Images
Barry Bonds at a Giants ceremony on Aug. 11, 2018.Getty ImagesAt this point, it seems the lone pathway for Bonds and Clemens to get in would be one that does not yet exist. That is not quite as impossible as it seems — the Hall has a history of making up committees, this being one of them, and perhaps in the future, those will be more sympathetic than this one, made up of their own peers.
But the six Hall of Fame players, seven executives and three media members who made up the voting panel here seemed to have little collective desire to elect Bonds, the all-time home run king, and Clemens, the seven-time Cy Young Award winner.
It’s not clear when their next chance will be, or if there will ever be one. But it’s clear that right now, the door is shut.
