Bonds, Clemens left out of Hall

Suspected steroid users fail to get necessary votes for Cooperstown entry

/ John Mottern / AFP file, Al Bell

Roger Clemens, left, was a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, while Barry Bonds, right, was a seven-time Most Valuable Player winner.

NBCSports.com news services

updated 2:26 p.m. ET Jan. 9, 2013

Baseball writers didn't elect Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens into the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, making an apparent statement on their suspected use of performance-enhancing drugs.

In fact, they failed to elect anyone, something that has only happened eight times in the Hall's history.

Since 1965, the only years the writers didn't elect a candidate were when Yogi Berra topped the 1971 vote by appearing on 67 percent of the ballots cast and when Phil Niekro headed the 1996 ballot at 68 percent. Both were chosen the following years when they achieved the 75 percent necessary for election.

In the final results, Bonds received only 36.2 percent of the vote, while Clemens received 37.6 percent. Sammy Sosa got just 12.5 percent of the votes.

Craig Biggio, 20th on the career list with 3,060 hits, topped the 37 candidates with 68.2 percent of the 569 ballots, 39 shy of the 75 percent needed. Among other first-year eligibles, Mike Piazza received 57.8 percent and Curt Schilling 38.8.

Bonds, the seven-time Most Valuable Player who holds the lifetime and single-season record for home runs, and Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner who earned 354 career victories, appeared to be statistical shoo-ins for admission in their first year of eligibility. However, the shadow of alleged steroid use made voting far more complex for members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, who charged by the Hall to make the annual selections.

The BBWAA election rules say "voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."

Bonds has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs and was convicted of one count of obstruction of justice for giving an evasive answer in 2003 to a grand jury investigating PEDs.

Clemens was acquitted of perjury charges stemming from congressional testimony during which he denied using PEDs.

Jane Forbes Clark, the Hall's chairman, said last year she was not troubled by voters weighing how to evaluate players in the era of performance-enhancing drugs.

"I think the museum is very comfortable with the decisions that the baseball writers make," she said. "And so it's not a bad debate by any means."

"While the BBWAA does the actual voting, it only does so at the request of the Hall of Fame," said the Los Angeles Times' Bill Shaikin, the organization's past president. "If the Hall of Fame is troubled, certainly the Hall could make alternate arrangements."

Several holdovers from last year also were on the 37-player ballot, including Jack Morris (67 percent), Jeff Bagwell (56 percent), Lee Smith (51 percent) and Tim Raines (49 percent).

Morris led holdovers with 67.7 percent. He will make his final ballot appearance next year, when Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine are eligible for the first time.

Sosa, who finished with 609 home runs, was among those who tested positive in MLB's 2003 anonymous survey, The New York Times reported in 2009. He told a congressional committee in 2005 that he never took illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

Morris finished second last year when Barry Larkin was elected and is in his 14th and next-to-last year of eligibility. He could become the player with the highest-percentage of the vote who is not in the Hall, a mark currently held by Gil Hodges at 63 percent in 1983.

Several players who fell just short in the BBWAA balloting later were elected by either the Veterans Committee or Old-Timers' Committee: Nellie Fox (74.7 percent on the 1985 BBWAA ballot), Jim Bunning (74.2 percent in 1988), Orlando Cepeda (73.6 percent in 1994) and Frank Chance (72.5 percent in 1945).

Ace of three World Series winners, Morris finished with 254 victories and was the winningest pitcher of the 1980s. His 3.90 ERA, however, is higher than that of any Hall of Famer.

Three inductees were chosen last month by the 16-member panel considering individuals from the era before integration in 1946: Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, umpire Hank O'Day and barehanded catcher Deacon White. They will be enshrined during a ceremony at Cooperstown on July 28.

? 2012 NBC Sports.com

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More newsJohn Mottern / AFP file, Al Bell

Bonds, Clemens left out of Hall

??Baseball writers failed to elect Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens into the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, making an apparent statement on their suspected use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50410208/ns/sports-baseball/

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