On Tuesday, the Baseball Writer's Association of America announced the voting results for the Baseball Hall of Fame induction. Boston Red Sox and MLB legend David Ortiz was the only player, out of the 30 nominations, to receive the required 75 percent of the vote. This was the final ballot that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Curt Schilling were eligible for.
Outside a highly unlikely scenario where the veteran's committee votes them in later this year, that means those players will never be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Those are considered some of the greatest players who have ever played between the white lines. That's especially true for Bonds and Clemens. Bonds finished his career with the most home runs in baseball history with 762. That surpassed the MLB mark held by Hank Aaron at 755. Meanwhile, Clemens is a 7-time Cy Young winner and finished his career with 4,672 strikeouts, ranking third all-time.
Bonds, Clemens, Sosa and even Manny Ramirez are all strongly tied to the steroid scandal that rocked the MLB over 20 years ago. It is undeniable that all of their careers and statistics were enhanced due to performance-enhancing drugs. But the Baseball Hall of Fame is viewed as a museum. Museum's tell history. How do you tell the history of Major League Baseball without the likes of those players?
After the news that he once again failed to reach the 75 percent plateau, Clemens took to Twitter.
Hey y’all! I figured I’d give y’all a statement since it’s that time of the year again. My family and I put the HOF in the rear view mirror ten years ago. I didn’t play baseball to get into the HOF. I played to make a generational difference in the lives of my family. (Thread)
— Roger Clemens (@rogerclemens) January 25, 2022
Clemens posted his thoughts, saying that he put the chances at getting into the Hall of Fame behind him years ago. He wrote about wanting to make a generational difference in the lives of his family. He surely accomplished that, having made tens of millions of dollars over the course of his career.
However, his Hall of Fame candidacy is a little tricky. Clemens won three Cy Young awards with the Boston Red Sox, including an AL MVP in 1986. But his peak years appeared to end in the early to mid 1990's. His numbers were falling off, and Red Sox GM Dan Duquette decided to let him go.
It was during that time that it appeared Clemens might have begun using PED's. His first two years with the Toronto Blue, he posted a 2.05 and 2.65 ERA respectively, winning back-to-back Cy Young awards. That shaved almost two full runs off his recent seasons with Boston.
After heading to New York and then Houston, Clemens won his sixth and seventh Cy Young awards. So, a large portion of his overall success during his 23-year career was potentially under the influence.
The same cannot be said for Bonds. Bonds played the first seven years of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The last three of those, he was unquestionably one of the greatest players in the MLB. He won three NL MVP's in the early 1990's and was amazing at just about everything he did.
He could hit for power, hit for average and stole 32 or more bases in six of his first seven years. Bonds was also a gold glove outfielder, with a strong arm. He was the prototype. He was the 5-tool player franchises always want to build around.
Barry Bonds was not elected into the baseball HOF.
This was his last year of eligibility on the BBWAA ballot effectively shutting him out. pic.twitter.com/ZQGmd5QEXn
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 25, 2022
Don't get me wrong. During the late 1990's into the next century, Bonds was clearly helped from the cream and the clear that he acknowledged using. But there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he was a Hall of Fame player before steroids became a pertinent part of the game.
Bonds and Clemens both earned 62 percent of the vote in their final attempt. Meanwhile, Sosa garnered only 17 percent and Ramirez got 28 percent. Ramirez still have four years left of eligibility, but it seems highly unlikely that he will ever be enshrined.
Curt Schilling, on the other hand, received the highest vote percentage of any on the ballot not to be elected. He received over 71 percent of the vote.
During the regular season, you can argue that Schilling is not a Hall of Fame player. He finished with a mid-3's ERA, was a 6-time All-Star and never won a Cy Young award. But his postseason resume is easily one of the greatest ever. Everyone remembers the ‘bloody sock' game during the 2004 ALCS. He helped Boston win two World Series titles, and that was after winning a World Series with Randy Johnson and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Schilling's candidacy was in question for different reasons entirely. Over the years, he has made many incendiary comments regarding Nazis, Islamophobia and lynching journalists. Journalists are the ones who vote members into the Hall of Fame. After it broke that he would never be getting in either, he took a classy approach however, congratulating his former teammate.
Every year the conversation revolves around who didn’t get in. Like all star voting, who got cheated. I say it every year and especially this year, focus on who did get in. @davidortiz deserved a 1st ballot induction! Congratulations my friend you earned it! #bigpapiHoF
— Curt Schilling (@gehrig38) January 25, 2022
There are other players who have been linked to PED's who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. That has left fans confused as to exactly what the criteria is for MLB greats to earn the sport's greatest honor.
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