When the voting results for the Baseball Hall of Fame were announced Wednesday, no player had been named on the 75 percent of ballots needed for induction. The Astros’ Craig Biggio received the most votes, but fell short at 68.2 percent.
The three highest-profile players who were tainted by allegations of steroid use — Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa — did not come close to 75 percent, even though they were the most dominant players of their era. And even players such as Jeff Bagwell (in his third year on the ballot) and Mike Piazza (first) seemingly could not escape suspicion, falling far short.
Bonds, the game’s all-time home run leader, received just 36.2 percent of the votes and Clemens 37.6 percent cast by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Sosa, who ranks eighth on the all-time home run list, got only 12.5 percent, while Bagwell (59.6 percent) and Piazza (57.8 percent) placed much higher.
