Barry Bonds fell off the Hall of Fame ballot earlier this year after 10 years of failing to receive the 75% vote required for Cooperstown induction. Yet, he still has a chance to make it.
On Monday it was announced that Bonds would be included in the Contemporary Era ballot this year, a ballot of players from 1986-2016 that have been overlooked by the traditional voting process, to be voted on by a select committee. The other seven former players on the ballot are Roger Clemens, Albert Belle, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling.
The group will be voted on by a 16-member electorate “comprised of members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, executives, and veteran media members“. Voting will be held in December and 12 of the 16 committee members must vote an individual in for them to be inducted.
In the 10 years that Bonds was on the ballot, his percentage of votes steadily increased — 36.2%, 34.7%, 36.8%, 44.3%, 53.8%, 56.4%, 59.1%, 60.7%, 61.8% and 66% respectively — yet still fell short due to the accusations that he used steroids throughout this playing career. Similar accusations have kept the likes of Clemens and Palmeiro off the ballot as well.
Alleged steroid use notwithstanding, Bonds is easily the greatest baseball player not currently in the Hall of Fame, and quite possibly the greatest player of all time. He won a record seven NL MVP awards, three of which were won before he was accused of using performance enhancers. Bonds was a 14-time All-Star in 22 MLB seasons, hit the most home runs ever (762), the most in a single season (73) and has the most career walks of any hitter (2,558). Bonds’ career on-base-plus-slugging is 1.051.
