The road to the Hall of Fame for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens seems pretty closed, at least for now.
If the players’ ballot in the modern era of baseball should give them a better chance of being elected than the traditional BBWAA voting process, then this is pretty much it. Bonds and Clemens received fewer than four votes from the 16-member committee. At least 12 people were required for the election, Fred McGriff was the only player to hit that mark. Another steroid user, Rafael Palmeiro, also received fewer than four votes.
In his final year of BBWAA voting, Bonds received 66 percent of the vote and Clemens received 65.2 percent.
The BBWAA ballot saw a significant increase in voting for Bonds and Clemens over the past 10 years as more writers agreed that steroid use should not be disqualifying for the Hall of Fame. Others have suspected that current Hall members from that era may also be users, but have not been caught.
At this point, the only way in for Bonds and Clemens doesn’t seem to exist yet. It’s not as impossible as it sounds – the hall has a history of forming committees, this is one of them, and in the future they will be more sympathetic than if they were made up of their peers.
But the six Hall of Fame players, seven executives and three members of the media who make up the voting group here include Bonds, all-time home run king and seven-time Cy Young Award winner Clemens. didn’t seem to have much of a desire to get elected. .
It’s unclear when or if their next chance will be. But now the door is clearly closed.