The wait will continue for Major League Baseball's home run king.
After falling short in 10 years on the writers' ballot, Barry Bonds was not voted into the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee, a group of 16 that met Sunday in San Diego to add to the 2023 Hall of Fame class. The group, which consists of former players, MLB executives and members of the media, elected one new member -- Fred McGriff. The announcement was made Sunday night on MLB Network.
Bonds, Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmiero and Albert Belle all received less than four votes, the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced. McGriff received all 16 votes, while Don Mattingly got eight votes, Curt Schilling got seven and Dale Murphy got six.
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The committee provides a secondary route to Cooperstown for players who did not get in on the traditional baseball writers' ballot, but just as with that vote, players must get 75 percent of the support in order to get into the Hall of Fame. Bonds, one of eight nominees this year, fell short.
Bonds now must wait until at least 2026 to get into the Hall of Fame. Next year's committee will look at managers, executives and umpires, and the following year will be dedicated to players who took the field prior to 1980. Bonds will have another shot to get onto the Contemporary Baseball Player ballot the following year.
By any statistical measure, Bonds should have been enshrined a decade ago. He is the sport's all-time leader in home runs, walks and set the single-season record for homers when he hit 73 in 2001. Bonds was a seven-time MVP, a 14-time All-Star and an eight-time Gold Glove Award winner who finished his career with 762 homers, 2,935 hits and 514 stolen bases, but his connection to performance-enhancing drugs kept him from getting into the Hall in his 10 years on the writers ballot.
Bonds didn't reach the 50 percent mark until his fifth year on the ballot and topped out at 66 percent in January, which was his 10th and final time on the ballot. The committees often have been just as harsh to players with PED connections, and coming into Sunday's meeting, Bonds was not expected to be elected.
San Francisco Giants
The results of this year's writers' ballot will be released in late January, with any inductees joining McGriff in the 2023 Hall of Fame class. Jeff Kent, Bonds' former teammate, is in his final year on the BBWAA ballot but is not expected to get in. The Giants might still be represented, though.
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Duane Kuiper is up for the Ford C. Frick Award, which honors excellence in broadcasting. The winner will be announced Wednesday near the conclusion of the Winter Meetings.