Baseball Hall Of Fame Vote 2013: BBWAA Shuts Out Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens And Elects No One

'Steroid Era' Gets Shut Out

No one got the Hall call in 2013. The Baseball Writers' Association of America shut out Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and the rest of the candidates eligible for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013.

With Bonds, Clemens and Sosa up for election for the first time in 2013, this vote by the BBWAA was viewed by many as a
The voters have spoken.

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According to the BBWAA, Craig Biggio garnered the most support among the 569 ballots cast, with 68.2% of the vote. The threshold for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. is appearing on 75% of the ballots. The next highest tally by a player in his first year of eligibility was Mike Piazza, who appeared on 57.8% of the ballot. No other player in his first year appeared on more than 50% of the ballots, with Clemens (37.6), Bonds (36.2) and Sosa (12.5) all far from the requirement for qualification despite having some of the most staggering statistics in the history of the game.

Before the 2013 voting results were revealed, several high-profile BBWAA voters made it clear that they would not be voting for any player who abused steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs during his career. Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated explained his rationale in a passionate column published on the eve of the results announcement.

"When I vote for a player I am upholding him for the highest individual honor possible. My vote is an endorsement of a career, not part of it, and how it was achieved. Voting for a known steroid user is endorsing steroid use. Having spent too much of the past two decades or so covering baseball on the subject of steroids -- what they do, how the game was subverted by them, and how those who stayed away from them were disadvantaged -- I cannot endorse it.

While Verducci's sentiment seem to be held by many of his BBWAA peers, the debate still rages on about the fates of these players. During an appearance on HuffPost Live, ESPN baseball columnist Buster Olney spoke on behalf of those who don't believe that steroid use should be held against Bonds, Clemens and their peers.

"I'm in a very small minority of of writers who are going to vote for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens just as I've always voted for Mark McGwire," Olney said. "My own feeling is I think the writers have lost their minds on this issue. It's our job to reflect history with our votes and not to try and dictate legacy. And it's pretty clear that the writers are the bottleneck in this because as far as Major League Baseball is concerned, Roger Clemens is a member of good standing and so is Barry Bonds."

After learning the results of the 2013 vote, Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson did not express any regret that he would not be welcoming any players to Cooperstown this year.

“The standards for earning election to the Hall of Fame have been very high ever since the rules were created in 1936. We realize the challenges voters are faced with in this era," said Idelson, via the BBWAA website. "The Hall of Fame has always entrusted the exclusive voting privilege to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. We remain pleased with their role in evaluating candidates based on the criteria we provide.”

Based on the reaction on social media, not everyone remains please with the BBWAA voters and the entire process for enshrining players in the Hall of Fame.

More From The Associated Press:

NEW YORK — Steroid-tainted stars Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa have been denied entry to baseball's Hall of Fame with voters failing to elect any candidates for only the second time in four decades.

Bonds received just 36.2 percent of the vote, Clemens 37.6 and Sosa 12.5 in totals announced Wednesday by the Hall and the Baseball Writers' Association of America. They were appearing on the ballot for the first time and have up to 14 more years to make it to Cooperstown.

Craig Biggio, 20th on the career list with 3,060 hits, topped the 37 candidates with 68.2 percent of the 569 ballots, 39 shy of the 75 percent needed. Among other first-year eligibles, Mike Piazza received 57.8 percent and Curt Schilling 38.8

Jack Morris led holdovers with 67.7 percent. He will make his final ballot appearance next year, when Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine are eligible for the first time.

Craig Biggio 388 (68.2, Jack Morris 385 (67.7%), Jeff Bagwell 339 (59.6%), Mike Piazza 329 (57.8%), Tim Raines 297 (52.2%), Lee Smith 272 (47.8%), Curt Schilling 221 (38.8%), Roger Clemens 214 (37.6%), Barry Bonds 206 (36.2%), Edgar Martinez 204 (35.9%), Alan Trammell 191 (33.6%), Larry Walker 123 (21.6%), Fred McGriff 118 (20.7%), Dale Murphy 106 (18.6%), Mark McGwire 96 (16.9%), Don Mattingly 75 (13.2%), Sammy Sosa 71 (12.5%), Rafael Palmeiro 50 (8.8%).

By receiving fewer than 29 votes (less than 5 percent), Bernie Williams 19 (3.3, Kenny Lofton 18 (3.2%), Sandy Alomar Jr. 16 (2.8%), Julio Franco 6 (1.1%), David Wells 5 (0.9%), Steve Finley 4 (0.7%), Shawn Green 2 (0.4%), Aaron Sele 1 (0.2%), Jeff Cirillo 0, Royce Clayton 0, Jeff Conine 0, Roberto Hernandez 0, Ryan Klesko 0, Jose Mesa 0, Reggie Sanders 0, Mike Stanton 0, Todd Walker 0, Rondell White 0 and Woody Williams 0 are no longer eligible for election by the BBWAA.

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