Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero, and Trevor Hoffman got the call.
Barry Bonds did not.
For the sixth straight year, the Giants’ legend and all-time home run leader failed to reach the 75 percent threshold among the voting population from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Despite stringing together one of the greatest careers in baseball history, Bonds has struggled to gain enough support for his Hall of Fame cause.
The percentage of voters supporting Bonds increases on a year-by-year basis, but a considerable portion of the voting population appears determined to keep Bonds out of Cooperstown due to the doping scandals that marred his career.
Though the seven-time MVP, eight-time Gold Glove Award winner, 12-time Silver Slugger and 14-time All-Star has the credentials to match any baseball player from any era, he only received 56.4 percent of the vote this year, a slight uptick from the 53.8 percent he received last year.
As the years pass by, it’s increasingly unlikely Bonds’ case for the Hall of Fame will change in the minds of the electorate, meaning he could have a slim chance to earn a spot in his final eligible year on the ballot (2022), or never receive the call he so desperately wants.
Former San Francisco Giants Jeff Kent and Omar Vizquel also fell shy of receiving enough votes, as Kent earned 14.5 percent of the vote while Vizquel commanded 37 percent.
