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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 Baseball Era Committee ballot will have holdovers from Bonds, Clemens, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy, while others off the regular ballot have joined them.
Also on the Contemporary Era Committee ballot for the Class of 2026 will be Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela.
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Former New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens during the Old Timer’s Day ceremony at Yankee Stadium. (Wendell Cruz/Imagn Images)
The committee, made up of 16 voters, will meet Dec. 7 during the winter meetings in Orland, Fla., to determine who can enter the Cooperstown hall. A 75% vote is required for the election, and if anyone reaches this minimum, they will be inducted on July 26, 2026.
Regular voting by the Baseball Writers’ Associate of America (BBWAA) will be announced on January 20, 2026.
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In 2022, the Hall of Fame restructured its veterans committees with panels to examine the contemporary era, which spans from 1980 to the present, as well as the classic era. For contemporary times, there are two separate ballots for players and managers, executives and referees. Contemporary managers, executives and referees will be examined in December 2026, while candidates from the classical era will be examined in December 2027.
Each committee meets every three years, meaning the next contemporary era ballot review will take place in December 2028.
When this time’s ballot was reviewed in December 2022, Fred McGriff was unanimously elected with all 16 votes. Mattingly received eight votes, while Curt Schilling, who was excluded from the ballot this year, received seven. Bonds and Clemens, as well as Rafael Palmeiro, who was excluded along with Schilling, received 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/Imagn Images)
Bonds, Clemens and Palmeiro are polarizing figures in the game, as their fame soared during baseball’s much-maligned steroid era. Bonds denied knowing he was using steroids, while Clemens had maintained he never used them. Palmeiro is the same.
Sheffield also noted that he was unaware that he had used performance-enhancing drugs in training before the 2002 season, which contained steroids.
Bonds and Clemens would be Hall favorites had their MLB careers not been tainted by the accusations. Both Bonds and Clemens were excluded from the 2022 BBWAA ballot after the former received 66% of the vote (260 of 394) and the latter received 65.2% of the vote (257). You also need 75% of the vote to be inducted into the Hall.
Bonds, of course, is still the MLB home run king, having hit 762 in his career, while also holding the single-season home run record (73). He has won seven NL MVP Awards, while also making 14 All-Star appearances.
Barry Bonds is introduced to fans for 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, behind Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Randy Johnson (4,875).
It is also worth noting that the December 2027 ballot will be the first chance Pete Rose will be available to vote after Commissioner Rob Manfred determined his permanent suspension from MLB ended with his death in September 2024.
