MLB's All-Time Home Run King Rejected Again In Hall Of Fame Vote
COOPERSTOWN, NY (CBS SF) - Four players will be inducted to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015, but none of them can claim to own the single-season and all-time home run record.
On Tuesday nine baseball veterans received more votes from baseball writers than the former Giants slugger. Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio were elected to baseball's Hall of Fame on Tuesday, each receiving more than 80 percent of the vote.
Meanwhile Bonds, a seven MVP award winner with 8 Gold Gloves and 514 career stolen bases, received just 36.8 percent of the vote as he continues to wait out his time in steroid purgatory. This was the third time Bonds has been denied entry to The Hall.
Bonds and Roger Clemens - who earned 37.5% of the vote - would have been surefire first ballot inductees if not for the taint of the steroid era. Mark McGwire (10%) and Sammy Sosa (6.6%) have also seen their candidacies essentially erased.
Bonds has always steadfastly denied using performance enhancing drugs, even after being convicted of obstructing justice during the BALCO steroids investigation.
Some speculate that Bonds is simply being temporarily punished by baseball writers and hint that his eventual induction is likely. However, Bonds earned 36.2 percent of the vote in his initial year of eligibility and has barley gained any ground since, suggesting he has a long way to go to get to the required 75 percent.
The new class will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 26. The Baseball Writers' Association of America had not given four players the necessary number of votes in a year since selecting Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Ted Lyons and Dazzy Vance 60 years earlier.
Mike Piazza was the closest player to fall short, needing just 28 more to get in.
