Thursday, December 29, 2016

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens… In the Hall?


I have sent my Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot in and on my ballot I listed a few questionable and/or controversial names. Two of those names were Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. With the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) ballots due on New Year’s Eve the early numbers suggest that I may not be alone in my thought process in adding these two to the ballots. Could we see a year where both Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are in the Hall of Fame?

Ryan Thibodaux tracks the votes for the BBWAA and reportedly he has seen 122 of the 435 ballots come through as of the beginning of the week. According to Thibodaux the pair of historic suspected steroid users are garnering votes at a much higher rate than last year and at a much higher rate than expected. Last year Bonds had 44.3% of the vote while Clemens had 45.2% of the vote, as a reminder any player needs at least 75% of the vote to gain entrance into the Hall of Fame, but this year according to reports the pair each have tallied a whopping 71.3% of the vote to date.

Thibodaux also adds that Manny Ramirez, who has failed a pair of tests during the testing era and was suspended in both 2009 and 2011, has received 32% of the vote thus far. This is surprising and this actually makes me a little weary about what’s to come in the coming years but that’s another blog post for another day.


What a way to kick off 2017. Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds… both potentially Hall of Fame players finally. Stay tuned, it may happen. 

7 comments:

  1. It's ridiculous that both of these guys weren't first ballot guys. You can make arguments about who cheated and who didn't, dating all the way back to when Reed was a kid. I've been told that was around 1892. Just kidding Reed! But seriously, the steroid era is real. Just like any other era, including the cocaine of the 80's and the greeinies of the 60's and 70's. Here's my point. In the steroid era, Bonds and Clemens were the best of the era. If most players were juiced, these two were at the top. Period!

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    1. Was there electricity when Reed was a kid? I would have to let Clemens in over Bonds as Bonds failed tests and Clemens didn't, yet we all know they both juiced along with Ortiz so he always seems to get a free pass which pisses me off. The clown never hit 20 HR in the Metrodome and was released I believe and then all of a sudden he starts cranking, just like Bautista.

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    2. Sorry guys but it was 1937 and yes we had crystals sets for our radio and electricity for our lights...no refrigerators, only ice boxes. Those were the good days of Yankee baseball! LOL

      Good god, you guys missed some of the all-time greatest players of modern baseball!

      Like: Position Players...Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Stan "The Man" Musial, Willie Mays Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio!
      Pitchers...Whitey Ford, Bob Feller, Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan!
      Now I could make a good team with that bunch, er...maybe not, we are all too damn old or dead!
      As much as you and I love some of to-days players, those guys could play the game like no others!
      Happy New Year, guys!

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    3. Ken....Can you remember the guys delivering ice in the 30's ?

      A leather like skirt over his broad shoulders. The iron
      tongs gripping the ice as it lay on that leather skirt.
      Him climbing those stairs in hell's kitchen in the heat, all
      the while cursing his lot in life ?
      Sure you do. Happy New Year.

      Anne Marie & patrick.

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    4. Happy New Year to everyone and your loved ones!

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    5. Happy New Year patrick and to your elegant boss, the lovely Anne Marie!

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  2. On this date in 1986 I was hanging upside down in a tree about 150 ft above the ground, while some bad guys walked under me. First thing is, I NEVER jump out of a good airplane, the jump-master always pushes me out. Second thing is, as the bad guys were walking under me I found something was running down my back...and it didn't smell very good.
    Those are the stories we tell every year, true stories with a small lie here and there to keep it lite! You wouldn't believe the people that come around to hear the war stories from a bunch of old guys, although some of the stories are getting more up to date as some of the guys are replaced by younger "old guys".

    "Las Vegas time", is coming soon for another five days of lies and stores.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)