Bonds, Clemens And Sosa Denied By Baseball Hall Of Fame

First time eligible Baseball Hall of Fame candidates Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens were all denied entry into Cooperstown this year following careers marred by steroids scandals.

Bonds, Sosa and Clemems all have Hall of Fame statistics and credentials. Bonds is the all time home run leader, blasting 762 long balls over his career. Sammy Sosa played for 18 seasons and crushed 609 home runs over his career. Roger Clemens pitched for 24 years, won 354 career games, and struck out over 4,500 batters.

To be elected players must appear on 75% of writer’s ballots. Bonds got his name on 36.2%, Clemens got on 37.6% and Sosa landed on 12.5% of all ballots.

According to ESPN this is the eighth time the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWA) has not elected any players into the Hall of Fame. Curt Schilling, former pitcher and Hall of Fame candidate, tells ESPN:

“I think as a player, a group, this is one of the first times that we’ve been publicly called out. I think it’s fitting…. If there was ever a ballot and a year to make a statement about what we didn’t do as players — which is we didn’t actively push to get the game clean — this is it.”

Darryl Hamilton, a teammate of Bonds in the early 1990’s tell Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle:

“I was a little disappointed. I don’t think it’s fair that the Baseball Writer’s Association of America decided that not only Bonds, but everybody in that era, should be punished for what they think somebody has done.”

One of those players Hamilton may be referring to is Craig Biggio. Biggio finished his career with 3,000 hits and was never accused of using steroids. He received the most votes with 68.2%.

Here is a video discussing this years Hall of Fame ballot:

What do you think, do steroid era players deserved to be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame?