January 26th, 2022 at 11:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka For the tenth consecutive year, baseball’s all-time home run leader Barry Bonds was snubbed from achieving baseball immortality when the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) once again did not vote him into baseball’s Hall of Fame, for which the (now) 57-year-old Riverside, CA native and first-round draft pick in 1985 by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Arizona State University is now permanently off the BBWAA’s ballot … as in forever.
But don’t feel too bad for the confirmed cheater. His chances of “Making the Hall” (as they say) may have actually improved – significantly. Although Bonds’ name will never again appear on a BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot, he is now eligible for enshrinement via the ‘Modern Baseball Committee.’ This verbatim from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum website:
Modern Baseball (1970-1987)
Rules for Election for Managers, Umpires, Executives and Players for Modern Baseball Candidates to the National Baseball Hall of Fame
- Name: The Modern Baseball Committee (“The Committee”) shall refer to the electorate that considers retired Major League Baseball players no longer eligible for election by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA), along with managers, umpires and executives, whose greatest contributions to the game were realized from the 1970-1987 era.
- Membership: The Modern Baseball Committee shall consist of 16 members, comprised of members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, executives, and veteran media members. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. shall act as the non-voting chairman of the committee and shall act as non-voting Secretary of the Committee.
- Method of Appointment: The Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors shall appoint the Committee.
- Term – Each appointee is to serve for a renewable term, with the Committee scheduled to meet on a cycle of twice every five years.
- Time and Place of Election – Beginning in 2017, an election for Modern Baseball Era candidates shall be held twice every five years at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings. A quorum will consist of three-fourths of the total membership of the committee. Proxies are permitted in emergency situations only. In the absence of a quorum, a conference call with absent committee members will be permitted.
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Do you see where this is going? Although the Modern Baseball Committee meets only twice every five years at MLB’s Winter Meetings, with Bonds’ insane career numbers, you can bet that his name will come up at every future Modern Baseball Committee gathering – PED’s notwithstanding. Those numbers include:
- 14-time All-Star
- 7 MLB MVP awards
- Three MLB Player of the Year awards
- 12 Silver Slugger awards
- 8 Gold Glove awards
- Two MLB batting titles
- Home Run Derby champion
Insane numbers indeed.
The blatantly obvious question is: Would Bonds have accrued these insane numbers had he not been juicing? – A question to which we will never know the answer.
That said, unless Bonds is given a lifetime ban from Hall of Fame consideration – as is Pete Rose for gambling on baseball and ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson for ‘throwing’ the 1919 World Series (among others), he will continue to be eligible for enshrinement into the sacred Halls of Cooperstown twice every five years.
Whether or not the Modern Baseball Committee chooses to follow the (very) well-established lead of the BBWAA on Bonds remains to be seen.
Stay tuned…
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the existing old guard have been pretty clear that bonds, clemens and sosa have “no place” in the HOF. as two of the most vocal (morgan and aaron) have left us, i suspect it is only a matter of time. as more guys with suspected or “pre-banned” use get in, (guys possibly named ortiz, henderson, bagwell etc), and get on these committees, PEDS will become a non issue. the shame of it all is that guys like mcgriff with 493HR, an OPS+ of 134 and never suspected of peds or pinson, and steve finley are snubbed because they dont compare to the numbers put up by others regardless of how the others achieved them. when you play 18 or 19 years, compile 2500+H/400+2B/100+3B 300+HR 300+SB you’ve done something special. these guys were all stars and have multiple GGs. they were doing it on both sides of the ball. finley is a top 100 player in games played, AB, PA, RS, H, TB, 3B, EBH, and top 150 in 2B, HR, SB, 1B… todays WAR and OPS+ comparisons dismiss these accomplishments. with all the talk of lou whitaker, he didnt macth these numbers, yet is WAR is higher.
Excellent comment!! Finley would be a very interesting debate, both pro and con, but McGriff should be a slam dunk entrant into Cooperstown. When a player like Harold Baines gets in through politics there is nothing to hinder Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, et al entry at some future date.
when Finley was here, the Dodgers showed his numbers and noted that he was one of a dozen or so players with his resume and all but pinson were in the HOF. they essentially listed him as a future HOFer. he received four votes on a ballot that subsequently produced nine HOFers as well as schilling, bonds, clemens, sosa, mcguire, palmiero, murphy and mcgriff. that is 17 other guys (ignoring PEDS for this discussion) who put up numbers requiring consideration with a total of 26 players getting at least 1 vote. as a result, no one received enough votes. in fact, no player received as much as 70%. limiting the number of votes that can be placed on a ballot has always seemed ridiculous to me. in my opinion each player should be given one year on the ballot and voters should be able to vote for every player they deem worthy. 1st ballot or 8th ballot… either you’re a HOFer or you’re not. eliminate the politics. after that let the veterans committee have a look and choose their peers.