This is the last year writers can select Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens for the baseball Hall of Fame. Will they make it?

By CNN Newsource

Published January 25, 2022 6:14 AM

By Steve Almasy, CNN

There was a time when seven-time National League MVP Barry Bonds and seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens were considered sure-fire, first-ballot Hall of Famers.

But now, in their 10th year of eligibility, the two baseball legends have yet to be invited to the National Baseball Hall of Fame — and it’s far from certain they ever will be.

Both Bonds and Clemens were linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs through the 2007 Mitchell Report by senator-turned-baseball-investigator, George Mitchell. But neither player ever failed an MLB test for steroids and Bonds only admitted to using substances he said he was told were an arthritis balm and flaxseed oil.

On Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will announce whether Bonds, Clemens and others on this year’s ballot have been selected for induction in Cooperstown, home of the baseball Hall of Fame in New York state.

Bonds and Clemens are not the only controversial former players on the ballot. Alex Rodriguez, who hit 696 home runs in his 22-season career, is eligible for the first time, and Sammy Sosa, who hit 609 homers, is in his last year of eligibility.

Rodriguez tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2003, before penalties were in place, and admitted to using “a banned substance” after the results were leaked in 2009.

Two years later, he was caught up in the investigation into the Biogenesis clinic that provided supplements like human growth hormone and testosterone to players. Rodriguez missed the 2014 season because he was suspended for use of PEDs over several years.

Tampa Bay Times writer Marc Topkin, who shared his ballot in a column on the paper’s website, says Bonds and Clemens deserve to be in because each voter gets to choose where he or she draws a line.

“So I can vote for Bonds and Clemens based on how dominant they were overall (and, to a degree, before PED use was suspected) but not Manny Ramirez or Alex Rodriguez (making his ballot debut), who failed tests and were suspended,” he wrote.

Topkin said he would also vote for David Ortiz, who was dogged by steroid speculation after he reportedly tested positive in anonymous survey testing in 2003. MLB’s official testing program went in effect the next year and Ortiz never failed.

Some votes already revealed

Ortiz, a 10-time all-star and three-time World Series champion, is like Rodriguez also in his first year of eligibility and, according to a ballot tracker from Ryan Thibodaux, appears to be on his way to being elected. As of 9 p.m. ET Monday, Ortiz had about 85% of the votes on publicly revealed ballots.

Bonds (77.7%) and Clemens (76.6%) are above the 75% threshold needed for election, but less than 50% of possible ballots are known and in past years the actual percentage of total votes ends up being lower.

Rodriguez and Sosa, who was also implicated in the 2003 survey testing, each had vote percentages far too low to be elected.

Looking at Thibodaux’s tracker, it appears Ortiz might be the only writers’ selection. If so, he will go into the Hall with former players chosen in December by the Early Baseball Era Committee and the Golden Days Era Committee — Bud Fowler, Buck O’Neil, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso and Tony Oliva.

What some voters said

Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, a first-time voter, said he had voted for Bonds, Clemens, Rodriguez, Ortiz and others.

“It just doesn’t seem rational for writers to try and pick and choose when it’s pretty clear that an entire era of the game included superstars who got caught and many others who were lucky enough to get away with it,” he wrote.

But Mark Faller of the Arizona Republic wrote that he couldn’t vote for guys like Bonds and Clemens. He says the incredible statistics from the latter years of their careers — totals no other players put up — are impossible to ignore.

“I cannot vote for two people who, by all appearances, shamelessly made a mockery of the game for their own benefit. Yes, their teams won championships. Yes, their teams’ fans were thrilled. That’s going to have to be enough reward,” he wrote.

If the vote were on statistics only, Bonds, Clemens and Rodriguez would be shoo-ins.

Bonds, who played left field for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants during his 22-year career, is Major League Baseball’s all-time leader with 762 career home runs. He hit a record 73 in one season.

He was named National League MVP a record seven times, including four seasons in a row, and won eight Gold Glove awards for his defense.

Clemens, a dominating starting pitcher, racked up 354 wins and 4,672 strikeouts over his 24-year career with the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, and Houston Astros. Clemens ranks third on MLB’s all-time strikeouts list and is ninth on the all-time wins list. He was on two Yankees World Series-winning teams.

Rodriguez finished fourth all-time in home runs and RBIs, won three MVP awards and was on one World Series winner. During his career, he played shortstop for the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers and third base for the New York Yankees.

Last year was a shutout

If the writers don’t elect anyone for induction, it would be the second consecutive year and the 10th time since voting began in 1936.

Last year, former pitcher Curt Schilling fell short 16 votes of election, leaving him with only 71.1% of the electorate.

In a long Facebook post, Schilling requested to be removed from the ballot, but he was included again this time, his last year of eligibility on the writers’ ballot.

There is still a chance Bonds, Clemens and others who are no longer eligible on the writers’ ballots will be voted into the Hall of Fame. This year the Today’s Game Era (1988 to now) Committee will vote in December for the class of 2023.

According to the Hall of Fame, that committee comprises 16 voters who are members of the hall, executives or veteran media members.

In 2019, former pitcher Lee Smith and former right fielder and designated hitter Harold Baines were elected by the committee.

CNN’s Jill Martin, Amir Vera and Kevin Dotson contributed to this report.

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