Someday? Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens see rise in Hall of Fame votes

(AP) Another Hall of Fame results day has come and gone, and neither Barry Bonds nor Roger Clemens are going to Cooperstown yet. But, they’re getting closer.

Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza deservedly earned the nod this season. Piazza netted 83 percent of the vote and Griffey earned a record 99.3 percent. Apologies to them, but they weren’t the most interesting candidates on the ballot this year.

Until a time comes that they’re either elected or their candidacy expires, that distinction belongs to Bonds and Clemens. They’re also the most debated, most contentious and most divisive players on the ballot. And it’s all because of their connection to performance-enhancing drugs.

This year, both Bonds and Clemens were expected to get a boost of support and that happened. Both added nearly eight percent to their 2015 vote totals. Bonds was on 195 of the 440 ballots, while Clemens was slightly higher at 199. That translated to 44.3 percent for Bonds and 45.2 percent for Clemens. On the road to 75 percent, it’s a nice addition, but there’s a long way to go still.

Here’s a look at how Bonds’ and Clemens’ percentages have changed since 2013, their first years on the ballot. You can compare that with other players clouded by PEDs, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, and see that Bonds and Clemens are moving in different directions. Of course, whether we’re talking PEDS or not, Bonds and Clemens are clearly in a different class than Sosa and McGwire.

There are two factors that led to their boost this year.

1. The Baseball Writers Association of America pared down its group of voters, dropping 109 voters who weren’t actively writing about baseball anymore. The new group is younger and more progressive, though obviously not progressive enough for a wholesale change in voting philosophy.

(AP) 2. Writers are relaxing their opinions about Bonds and Clemens. We’re talking about the high-profile guys too. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal added them to his ballot this year, so did ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. Jon Heyman added Bonds, but not yet Clemens.

As we’ve seen with Mike Piazza’s gradual rise up the ballot, it takes time for voters to come around, even in the more complicated cases such as these. Piazza went from 57.8 percent in 2013 to 83 percent in 2016. The climb for Bonds and Clemens may not be so quick, but it could end up in the same place.

The main question is time. They each have six more years on the ballot, so they’d need to add about five percent each year to reach the magic 75-percent threshold. In terms of actual voters, that’s 22 new people who would need to check their name every year (based on this year’s ballot pool).

Can that happen? It feels like a lot. It’s not impossible, but neither Bonds nor Clemens should start thinking about a Hall of Fame speech just yet.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz

Sharing is caring! Share this FreeWinningPicks post with your friends!