Barry Bonds now has just one more chance to get voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America, and it's not looking good.
In his ninth season on the ballot, Bonds fell well short of induction when voting results were announced Tuesday afternoon. He received 61.8 percent of the vote this time, a small increase from his 60.7 percent in 2020. Bonds was not alone in not reaching the 75 percent threshold, as voters failed to select a single player for induction for the first time since 2013. Curt Schilling, at 71.1 percent, was the closest to induction.
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Bonds has been on the ballot for nearly a decade and has seen just minor gains since first crossing the 50 percent threshold in 2017. There has not been a lot of momentum for the all-time home run king, who has paid dearly for his connection to performance-enhancing drugs, although he could see a boost in his 10th year. Players generally see an uptick in their final year and Bonds has continued to gain support from new voters; per Ryan Thibodaux's tracker, Bonds was listed on eight of nine ballots made public by first-time voters before the results were announced.
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Bonds and Roger Clemens, who finished at 61.6 percent this year, also could benefit from Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz joining the ballot next year. Rodriguez was suspended for his PED use and Ortiz reportedly had a positive test result in 2003, although commissioner Rob Manfred later questioned that result. It's possible that some voters will change their minds on players with PED connections given how many will be on next year's ballot.
Bonds still has a long way to go, though, and he's now very close to running out of time.
