Barry Bonds’ chances at Cooperstown took another blow Sunday, as the seven-time MVP, 14-time All-Star and all-time home run leader received little support from the Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Era committee.
Bonds was passed over for the 11th straight year, despite holding the single-season and all-time home run records. After earning 66% of the vote in his final year of eligibility on the writers’ ballot, Bonds received the support of less than 25% of the 16 committee members, who met Sunday at the Winter Meetings in San Diego.
Needing 12 votes (or 75%) for election, Bonds was one of four players to receive fewer than four from the committee, which consisted of six Hall of Fame players, seven MLB executives and three longtime media members.
Fred McGriff, whose 493 home runs were among the most of players not in the Hall, was elected unanimously, Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch announced Sunday evening on MLB Network.
Bonds, Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro, and Albert Belle all received fewer than four votes, while Don Mattingly (eight votes, 50%), Curt Schilling (seven votes, 43.8%) and Dale Murphy (six votes, 37.5%) also fell short of the 75% threshold.
Bonds congratulated McGriff with a short note on his Instagram story after the announcement.
Barry Bonds congratulates Fred McGriff on IG
🔗 https://t.co/BR4bUSLPrg pic.twitter.com/gvux37Faod
— Evan Webeck (@EvanWebeck) December 5, 2022
Despite an unrivaled résumé, Bonds, who hit 586 of his MLB-record 762 home runs in a Giants uniform, has faced an uphill battle to election because of the Hall of Fame’s “Character Clause,” which states that players “shall be chosen on the basis of playing ability, sportsmanship, character, their contribution to the teams on which they played and to baseball in general.”
In his first year of eligibility in 2013, Bonds’ name was checked on only 206 of 569 ballots (36.2%). But Bonds’ percentage of the vote increased in each year he was on the ballot. In his final year, in 2022, he received 66% of the vote (260 of 394), the closest he had come to reaching the necessary 75% threshold.
During their investigation to the Burlingame lab BALCO, federal prosecutors said Bonds lied when he denied using steroids, but a jury failed to reach a verdict on all three counts. Under oath, Bonds admitted to receiving “the cream” and “the clear” — undetectable substances — from his trainer but claimed he wasn’t aware they were performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds failed to win over enough support from the writers, but his Hall of Fame case had never been considered by former players and executives, including some of his peers. A similar style of committee voted in 2016 to elect former commissioner Bud Selig, who presided over the so-called “Steroid Era.”
The panel met Sunday at the Winter Meetings in San Diego to deliberate and eventually vote on the candidacies of the eight players. No member was permitted to vote for more than three candidates, which could have harmed Bonds’ performance.
The votes of each panelist were not disclosed, nor the exact totals of players who received fewer than four votes.
Chipper Jones was originally one of seven former players on the committee, but he fell ill and was replaced by D-backs president Derrick Hall, who joined former Blue Jays CEO Paul Beeston, former Red Sox and Cubs executive Theo Epstein, Angels owner Arte Moreno, Marlins general manager Kim Ng, Twins president Dave St. Peter and White Sox executive vice president Ken Williams as the executives on the panel.
The other Hall of Famers included Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas, Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith, Jack Morris and Alan Trammell, while former BBWAA presidents Susan Slusser (SF Chronicle) and LaVelle Neal (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) and longtime statistician Steve Hirdt represented the media.
While the result doesn’t end Bonds’ chances at induction for good, it does deal them a serious blow.
The same committee will next meet three years from now, in 2025, and could consider Bonds again then. Of this year’s candidates, Belle, Mattingly and Murphy had all appeared on previous configurations of committee ballots. However, all three repeat candidates again failed to gain enough support.
The induction ceremony for the Class of 2023 will be held Sunday, July 23, in Cooperstown, New York. The remainder of the inductees will be revealed January 24, when the results from the BBWAA voting are announced. And while Bonds won’t be there, the Giants do have a chance for some representation in Cooperstown this summer.
Jeff Kent, who beat out Bonds for the 2000 NL MVP and made three All-Star teams as the Giants’ hard-hitting second baseman from 1997-2002, enters his 10th and final year on the ballot, but his chances appear slim. He received 32.7% of the votes last year, well off the 75% threshold. It is also the first year of eligibility for Matt Cain, who isn’t likely to receive much support despite his memorable Giants career.
Additionally, longtime announcer Duane Kuiper is one of 10 nominees for the Ford C. Frick award, an annual honor for excellence in broadcast. The results of that vote will be announced Wednesday.
