Schilling, Clemens, Bonds Fail To Earn Spot In Baseball Hall Of Fame In 2021
BOSTON (CBS) -- There will be no members in the Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2021, after two Hall-worthy former Red Sox and the most prolific home run hitter in history failed to garner enough votes.
The Hall of Fame announced Tuesday night that no players on the ballot received the required 75 percent of votes, the second time that's happened since 2013 and the ninth time overall.
Notably, former Red Sox pitchers Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens failed to get in, as did Barry Bonds, the all-time leader in home runs with 762.
Schilling came close, coming up just 16 votes shy of earning enshrinement. He earned 71.1 percent of the vote.
Bonds received 61.8 percent of the vote, while Clemens got 61.6 percent.
Schilling pitched for the Red Sox for four years at the end of his 20-year career, contributing to the curse-busting 2004 championship season. In his career, he was 216-146 with a 3.46 ERA and 3,116 strikeouts, winning a World Series in 2001 and 2004, earning co-MVP honors with Randy Johnson in '01 with the Diamondbacks.
Schilling's resume is Hall-worthy, but his controversial comments and political stances have seemingly impacted his standing among voters. In his post-playing career, Schilling has also been fired from ESPN for sharing an anti-transgender Facebook post. He had also been suspended from ESPN prior to that for comparing Muslims to Nazis. Schilling was also not invited to Fenway Park by the Red Sox to throw out a first pitch during the 2018 World Series, while many of his teammates were welcomed. More recently, he expressed support for the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.
Clemens and Bonds are likewise surefire Hall of Famers in terms of on-field accomplishments, but their association with PEDs have kept their voting numbers below the 75 percent threshold.
The full results from this year's vote are:
Curt Schilling 285 (71.1 percent)
Barry Bonds 248 (61.8)
Roger Clemens 247 (61.6)
Scott Rolen 212 (52.9)
Omar Vizquel 197 (49.1)
Billy Wagner 186 (46.4)
Todd Helton 180 (44.9)
Gary Sheffield 163 (40.6)
Andruw Jones 136 (33.9)
Jeff Kent 130 (32.4)
Manny Ramírez 113 (28.2)
Sammy Sosa 68 (17.0)
Andy Pettitte 55 (13.7)
Mark Buehrle 44 (11.0)
Torii Hunter 38 (9.5)
Bobby Abreu 35 (8.7)
Tim Hudson 21 (5.2)
Aramis Ramírez 4 (1.0)
LaTroy Hawkins 2 (0.5)
Barry Zito 1 (0.2)
A.J. Burnett 0
Michael Cuddyer 0
Dan Haren 0
Nick Swisher 0
Shane Victorino 0
Bonds, Clemens and Schilling will be on the ballot for the final time next year. However, Schilling wants to void his eligibility and instead put his Hall of Fame fate into the hands of the veterans committee.
"I will not participate in the final year of voting. I am requesting to be removed from the ballot," Schilling said in a letter to the Hall of Fame, which he posted on Facebook. "I'll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player. I don't think I'm a hall of famer as I've often stated but if former players think I am then I'll accept that with honor."
Schilling -- who took a swipe directly at The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy -- also said that if he were to be inducted, he'd prefer to go into the Hall as a Diamondback. And if the Diamondbacks objected to that, he'd choose to enter as a member of the Phillies, owing to some lingering soreness toward the Red Sox.
"What [John] Henry and [Tom] Werner did to my family and I in my final year has been forgiven but will never be forgotten," Schilling said.
Schilling also defended his own character.
"Nothing, zero, none of the claims being made by any of the writers hold merit," he said. "In my 22 years playing professional baseball in the most culturally diverse locker rooms in sports I've never said or acted in any capacity other than being a good teammate. I've certainly been exposed to racism and sexism and homophobia as it's part of who human beings are. I've played with and talked with gay teammates. I've played with wife beaters, adulterers, assaulted, drug addicts and alcoholics. I've never hit a woman, driven drunk, done drugs, PEDs or otherwise, assaulted anyone or committed any sort of crime. But I'm now somehow in a conversation with two men who cheated, and instead of being accountable they chose to destroy others lives to protect their lie.
"I will always have one thing they will forever chase. A legacy. Whatever mine is as a player it will be the truth, and one I earned for better or worse."