Baseball Writers Reject Barry Bonds, Other ‘Steroid-Era’ MLB Stars From Hall Of Fame For Final Time

Topline

Seven-time National League MVP Barry Bonds and other “steroid-era” MLB stars were denied entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame through the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s ballot, after the organization’s members rejected them for a tenth and final time Tuesday, likely due to their alleged use of performance enhancing drugs during their playing careers.

Key Facts

Bonds, the MLB’s all-time leader in home runs, received votes from 66% of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA), below the 75% threshold necessary to make the prestigious Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Bonds is the best-known figure in the MLB’s “steroid era,” during which 89 players were accused of using illegal performance-enhancing drugs at a time when the league was not testing for them.

First-year candidate and longtime Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz was voted in with 77.9%, making him this year’s only new inductee, while fellow first-year candidate and former New York Yankees infielder Alex Rodriguez fell short with 34.3%.

Seven-time Cy Young award-winning pitcher Roger Clemens, who was also accused of using PEDs, was rejected for the tenth and final consecutive year with 65% of BBWAA votes. 

Sammy Sosa, another steroid-era player who allegedly tested positive for PEDs in 2003, was also denied entry into the Hall for his tenth and final year of eligibility through the BBWAA ballot. 

Curt Schilling, who was never tied to steroid use but in 2016 tweeted an image of a shirt that condemned the lynching of journalists—a move that obviously made him less popular among the reporters who vote on the inductions—was denied in his final eligible year. 

Bonds, Clemens and Schilling can still be voted into the Hall of Fame by a separate committee that considers players outside their normal 10-year term of eligibility.  

Key Background

Bonds and Clemens were two key figures tied to the Mitchell Report, a 2007 league-funded congressional investigation into performance-enhancing drugs led by former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), which pulled from more than 700 sources including 60 former players. The report tied 89 players to the use of illegal PEDs. In the report, Clemens’ trainer Brian McNamee testified that the pitcher asked him to inject him with steroids in 1998. Clemens and Bond both testified before Congress, claiming they never knowingly injected themselves with illegal substances, but an investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative found that Bonds tested positive and was informed about the test. Bonds was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, but all charges were either overturned or could not be agreed upon by a jury. Clemens was acquitted of charges of perjury, making false statements and obstructing Congress in 2012. Matt Parrella, the lead prosecutor in Bonds’ 2011 perjury and obstruction trial, told Forbes in 2020 the evidence of Bonds’ and Clemens’ use of steroids is “incontrovertible,” adding “It’s scientifically certain, and corroborated by the surrounding facts and circumstances.” 

Chief Critics

Bud Selig, the former MLB commissioner who ran the league between 1992 and 2015, including during its “steroid era,” told radio personality Dan Patrick in 2019 he doesn’t believe Bonds is the true home run king because of his steroid use. Selig said he believes that title should be held by runner-up Hank Aaron, who tallied 755 throughout his 22-year career from 1954 to 1976. “In my mind, even though Bonds holds the record, and I’ve said records are records, I think you know how I feel about Henry Aaron.” Patrick added, “As a baseball fan, Barry Bonds shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame then if he cheated.” Following the release of the Mitchell Report, then-Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) called on Selig to resign for his “glacial response to this growing stain on baseball,” referring to the steroid era. Aaron said in 2009 he’s fine with steroid users making the Hall of Fame if they have “an asterisk beside their names.”

Contra

ESPN reporter and BBWAA member Jeff Passan argued for Bonds’ candidacy on Tuesday ahead of the vote reveal, stating (based on his presumption Bond wouldn’t be voted in), “today is nothing less than an abject failure,” adding, “Bonds’ rejection, in particular, epitomizes how all these decades later, baseball is still bungling the PED issue, valuing a lazy, ahistorical moral referendum over the preservation of history.” Passan pointed out the perceived hypocrisy of the BBWAA, which has voted in other players accused of PED use, as well as racists, domestic abusers and a player facing sexual assault allegations

Surprising Fact

Bonds holds the most MVP awards in MLB history, with seven, more than National League runners-up Albert Pujols and Hall-of-Famer Stan Musial—who have three apiece—combined.

Big Number

.609. That’s Bonds’ on-base percentage from the 2004 season—the highest single-season rate in league history. Bonds also holds the second-highest rate at .582 in 2002. The third-highest is Hall of Famer Josh Gibson, with .560 in 1943.