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Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens still have a chance to enter baseball’s hallowed hall.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame’s contemporary era committee ballot will have holdovers in Bonds, Clemens, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy, while others outside the regular ballot have joined them.
Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela will also be on the contemporary era committee ballot for the class of 2026.
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Former New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens during the Old Timer Day ceremony at Yankee Stadium. (Wendell Cruz/Image Images)
The committee, made up of 16 voters, will meet Dec. 7 during the winter meetings in Orland, Florida, to determine who can enter the Hall in Cooperstown. A 75% vote is required for the election, and if someone reaches that minimum, they will be inducted on July 26, 2026.
Regular Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) voting will be announced on January 20, 2026.
ROGER CLEMENS THANKS TRUMP FOR BASEBALL HALL OF FAME SUPPORT, RETURN TO CRITICS
In 2022, the Hall of Fame restructured its veterans committees with panels to consider the contemporary era, ranging from 1980 to now, as well as the classical era. For the contemporary era, there are two separate votes for players and coaches, executives and referees. Contemporary managers, executives and referees will be considered in December 2026, while classic era candidates will be considered in December 2027.
Each committee meets every three years, meaning the next review of contemporary-era ballots will be in December 2028.
When this era’s ballot was reviewed in December 2022, Fred McGriff was elected unanimously with all 16 votes. Mattingly received eight votes, while Curt Schilling, who was removed from the ballot this year, received seven. Bonds and Clemens, as well as Rafael Palmeiro, who was eliminated along with Schilling, had fewer than four votes.
San Francisco Giants legend Barry Bonds smiles before the MLB game between the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. (Bob Kupbens/Image Images)
Bonds, Clemens and Palmeiro are polarizing figures in the game, as the heights of their fame skyrocketed during baseball’s much-maligned steroid era. Bonds denied knowing he used steroids, while Clemens had maintained he had never used them. Palmeiro is the same.
Sheffield also noted that he was unaware that he had used performance-enhancing drugs during training prior to the 2002 season, which contained steroids.
Bonds and Clemens would be the favorites for the Hall if their MLB careers had not been tainted by the allegations. Both Bonds and Clemens were removed from the BBWAA ballot in 2022 after the former received 66% of the votes (260 of 394) and the latter received 65.2% of the votes (257). 75% of the vote is also needed to receive an induction into the Hall.
Bonds, of course, remains the MLB home run king, having hit 762 throughout his career, as well as holding the record for most home runs in a single season (73). He won seven National League MVP awards and also made 14 All-Star Game appearances.
Barry Bonds is introduced to fans at the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame ceremonies at PNC Park. (Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports)
Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, has the third-most strikeouts in league history with 4,672, trailing only Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Randy Johnson (4,875).
It’s also worth noting that the December 2027 vote will be the first opportunity for Pete Rose to be available for a vote after commissioner Rob Manfred determined that his permanent suspension from MLB ended with his death in September 2024.
