SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports' Bob Nightengale on the newest Baseball Hall of Fame class. USA TODAY Sports
There was no big bump this year for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, only an incremental tick upward as another year passed in their narrow bids to earn election to baseball's Hall of Fame.
The greatest hitter and starting pitcher of their era garnered their highest vote percentages in this, their sixth year in the ballot, but Wednesday night's release of 2018 results indicated their march toward 75% will remain a slog.
Clemens was named on 57.3% of ballots, falling 75 votes shy of the 317 needed for 75% and election. Bonds received 238 votes (56.4%), four fewer than Clemens.
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High-water marks for both, yes, but only nominal bumps over 2017 percentages for Clemens (54.1%) and Bonds (53.8%). Both saw 9% gains last year, in part because of a purging of older voters from the rolls, and also thanks to several writers who began voting for them after Bud Selig - commissioner for most of the so-called steroid era - earned Hall induction via committee.
That means Bonds - a seven-time MVP ensnared in the BALCO doping scandal - and Clemens - a seven-time Cy Young Award winner named by his personal trainer as a steroid user - will need several factors to coalesce before their eligibility expires in 2022:
- The further eradication of older voters, who tend to vote against PED users.
- More first-time voters joining the electorate.
- More big classes like Wednesday's 2018 edition that saw four strong candidates moved off the ballot and into Cooperstown. Sure-fire picks like Mariano Rivera (2019) and Derek Jeter (2020) will need company on their days in Cooperstown to narrow the focus for the steroid-stained stars.
Can they get there? Certainly, but their margin for error shrank a little more Wednesday - and increased the chances their fates will come down to a last-minute push in 2022.
Gallery: 2018 Hall of Fame class
