On a day he will forever remember, former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz still felt a hint of disappointment.
Ortiz, the lone player elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday, couldn’t fathom entering Cooperstown without the sport’s home run king Barry Bonds and one of his generation’s greatest pitchers, Roger Clemens.
“Not having them join me is hard for me to believe, to be honest with you,” Ortiz said to reporters after the results were announced. “These guys, I did not even compare myself with them.”
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By the time Ortiz made his major league debut with the Minnesota Twins in 1997, Bonds was in his 12th MLB season and already had three MVPs under his belt.
Bonds finished his career as baseball’s all-time leader in home runs (762) and walks (2,558) and mashed .298/.444/.607 over 22 years. Ortiz played 20 seasons himself but came up well short of Bonds’ marks with 541 dingers, 1,319 walks and a .286/.380/.552 slash line.
“Barry Bonds, I don’t think there’s ever going to be a human being capable of doing what he did when he played,” Ortiz said. “He’s special. Sometimes it’s going to be hard for people not in this game to understand that. Barry Bonds, to me, separated himself from the game at the highest level.”
In total, Bonds was a 14-time All-Star and won seven MVPs, 12 Silver Sluggers, eight Gold Gloves and two batting titles. Ortiz was named to the All-Star Game 10 times and took home seven Silver Sluggers. Clemens won seven Cy Young awards and posted the league’s best ERA in seven campaigns.
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Bonds and Clemens, of course, would’ve been a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame without their use of performance-enhancing drugs.
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“I know there are a lot of things going on, but to me, the guy was a Hall of Famer way before everything, all the talk, all the things," Ortiz said. "This is a guy who played the game at a whole different level. Same with Roger, the Rocket. When I see these guys, I don’t even compare myself to them because I saw so many times those guys performing, and they were something that was very special.”
In his first year on the ballot, Ortiz received 77.9 percent of the vote, just enough to exceed the needed 75-percent clip to enter the Baseball Hall. Bonds finished second (66 percent) and Clemens third (65.2 percent).
Instead of griping about being left out, Bonds went on Instagram to compliment baseball’s newest Hall of Fame slugger.
“CONGRATULATIONS Big Papi on your induction into the Hall of Fame!,” he wrote. “Well deserved … I love you my brother.”
Bonds’ next hope to enter the Baseball Hall lies in the hands of the Era Committee, a panel of 16 Hall of fame players, MLB executives and media members. He’ll likely be on the December ballot and would need 75 percent of the vote to get in.