Barry Bonds’ chance of getting voted into the Hall of Fame through traditional means came and went on Tuesday, when he failed to receive 75% of the vote for the 10th and final year in a row. Yet, there is still hope.
Bonds can still be voted in via an “Era Committee,” a group of former players, executives, media members and historians who are able to elect players and other people associated with MLB into the Hall four times a decade.
Longtime baseball writer for the “San Francisco Chronicle”, John Shea, explained how the process would work when it comes to Bonds.
“This particular committee, the Today’s Game Era Committee, which analyzes players from 1988 on, they meet four times every decade,” Shea told Papa & Lund on KNBR. “They just happen to meet next December at the Winter Meetings. It’s 16 people who sit in a room and if 12 of them vote for Bonds, Bonds will be a Hall of Famer next December.
“It’s a selection of mostly Hall of Fame players, executives, veteran media people and historians will vote there. And it does change from committee to committee. To get on the ballot, however, there is an oversight committee of 10 to 12, and they meet in the months previous to December, to determine who is on it, and it’s just a 10 person ballot. I’m sure Bonds will be on this ballot, it would be silly if not, but those 10 people have to come up with a ballot of 10 people that the 16 people will vote on.”
So Bonds will be on the ballot. The question is, will he get voted in? Shea believes he eventually will and that there will be folks sympathetic to his candidacy on the committee.
“This particular ballot could include Bonds, [Roger] Clemens, [Sammy] Sosa, Curt [Schilling] and Bruce Bochy will be eligible for the first time,” Shea continued. “Managers aren’t eligible on the writer’s ballot, but they are on the veterans.
“Are their friends of Barry Bonds on the committee? Well, eventually, there could be. Because every time a guy gets into the Hall of Fame, I ask ‘Do you think Bonds and Clemens are Hall of Famers or should be in the Hall of Fame?’ And it used to be maybe 50-50, or some guys wouldn’t want to talk about it, but nowadays these younger guys always say yes.
“The longer we wait, the more likely it is that these committees will have younger voters who played with Bonds, or against Bonds, and I think one day he will be a Hall of Famer based on the Today’s Game Era Committee.”
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