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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 contemporary baseball all-time selection committee ballot will have holdovers in Bonds, Clemens, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy, with others from the regular ballot joining them.
Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela will also be on the committee’s current-era ballot for the Class of 2026.
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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 16-voter committee will meet Dec. 7 during the winter meetings in Orland, Florida to determine who can enter the Cooperstown Hall. A 75% vote is required for election and if anyone reaches this minimum they will be inducted on July 26, 2026.
The regular Baseball Writers’ Associate of America (BBWAA) poll will be announced on January 20, 2026.
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In 2022, the Hall of Fame restructured its veteran panel selections to account for the modern era, which is from 1980 to the present, as well as the classic era. For the modern era, there are two separate ballots for players and managers, managers and referees. Contemporary leaders, managers and referees will be considered in December 2026, while candidates from the classic era will be seen in December 2027.
Each committee meets every three years, meaning the next contemporary ballot review will be in December 2028.
When this era vote was reviewed in December 2022, Fred McGriff was unanimously elected with all 16 votes. Mattingly received eight votes, while Curt Schilling, who was dropped from the ballot this year, received seven. Bonds and Clemens, as well as Rafael Palmeiro, who was dropped along with Schilling, had less 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 the heights of their fame soared during baseball’s much-maligned steroid era. Bonds denied knowing that he used steroids, while Clemens had maintained that he had never used them. Palmeiro is the same.
Sheffield also noted that he was unaware that he was using performance-enhancing drugs during training prior to the 2002 season, which included steroids.
Bonds and Clemens would be shoo-ins for the Hall had their MLB careers not been tarnished by the allegations. Bonds and Clemens were both dropped from the 2022 BBWAA ballot after the former received 66% of the vote (260 of 394) and the latter secured 65.2% of the vote (257). You also need 75% of the votes to receive admission to the hall.
Bonds, of course, is still MLB’s home run king, having hit 762 during his career while also holding the single-season home run record (73). He won seven NL MVP Awards while also making 14 All-Star appearances.
Barry Bonds is introduced to the 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 chance that Pete Rose will be available for a vote after Commissioner Rob Manfred ruled that his permanent suspension from MLB ended with his death in September 2024.
