Bond, Clemens, Delgado headline contemporary Hall of Fame ballot

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy were inducted onto the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot of the Hall of Fame and will join Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela next month.

The 16-member committee met Dec. 7 in Orlando, Fla. It takes place at the winter meetings, and 75 percent of the vote is necessary for election. Anyone selected on July 26 will be inducted, along with anyone selected in the Baseball Writers Association of America’s vote, announced on January 20.

Albert Bell, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling were ousted after appearing on the previous contemporaneous ballot in December 2022, when Fred McGriff was elected unanimously with 16 votes. As a meeting, Schilling had seven, Murphy had six and Bailey, Bonds, Clemens and Palmero had less than four, Hall said.

Delgado played the first 17 seasons of his 12-year career with the Toronto Blue Jays. Clemens and Kent also played with the Jays, while Mattingly is the team’s current bench coach.

In 2022 the Hall revived its veterans committees for the third time in 12 years, establishing panels to consider the modern era from the 1980s, as well as the classic era. Contemporary baseball has separate belts for players and another for managers, executives and umpires.

Each committee meets every three years. Contemporary managers, executives and umpires will be considered in December 2026, classic era candidates in December 2027 and contemporary era players in December 2028.

The December 2027 ballot is Pete Rose’s first chance to appear on the Hall ballot after baseball commissioner Rob Manfred decided in May that Rose’s permanent suspension would expire with his death in September 2024. Hall prohibits anyone on the permanently disqualified list from appearing on the ballot.

Under the change announced by Hall last March, any candidate on the ballot who receives fewer than five votes will not be eligible for that committee’s ballot during the next three-year cycle. A candidate who is dropped, later reappears on the ballot and receives fewer than five votes again will be barred from appearing on future ballots.

Bonds and Clemens tied for the 10th and final appearance on the BBWAA ballot in 2022, when Bonds received 260 of 394 votes (66 percent) and Clemens 257 (65.2 percent). Sheffield received 63.9 percent of its final BBWAA vote in 2024, receiving 246 votes and falling 43 shy.

Bonds denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs and Clemens maintains that he never used PEDs. Sheffield said he was unaware that the substances he used during training prior to the 2002 season contained steroids.

A seven-time NL MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds set the career home run record with 762 and set the season record with 73 in 2001.

A seven-time Cy Young Award winner, Clemens went 354-184 with a 3.12 ERA and 4,672 strikeouts, third behind Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Randy Johnson (4,875).

Sheffield, a nine-time All-Star and 1992 NL batting champion, hit .292 with 509 homers, 1,676 RBIs and 253 stolen bases. He began his major league career at shortstop, moving to third base and then the outfield.

Murphy, a seven-time All-Star outfielder who hit .265 with 398 homers, 1,266 RBIs and 161 steals, was on the BBWAA ballot 15 times and received more than 116 votes (23.2 percent) in 2000.

Mattingly received 145 votes (28.2 percent) in his first of 15 appearances on the 2001 BBWAA ballot. A six-time All-Star first baseman, he hit .307 with 222 homers and 1,099 RBIs over 14 years.

Delgado received 3.8 percent of the 2015 BBWAA vote and the outfielder was excluded from the future ballot. He hit .280 with 473 homers and 1,512 RBIs.

Kent hit 46.5 percent in the last of 10 BBWAA ballot appearances in 2023. A five-time All-Star second baseman, he batted .290 with 377 homers and 1,518 RBIs.

Valenzuela, who died in October 2024, received 6.2 percent support from the BBWAA in 2003 and 3.8 percent in 2004, then eliminated. A six-time All-Star and 1981 NL Cy Young Award winner, he was 173-153 with a 3.54 ERA and 2,074 strikeouts in 17 seasons.

The ballot was determined by the BBWAA’s 11-person Historical Review Committee: Adrian Burgos (University of Illinois), Bob Elliott (Baseball Network of Canada), Steve Herdt (Stats Perform), LaVille Neal (Minnesota Star-Tribune), David O’Brien (The Eight Media), Jack O’Brien (The Atomic) O’Connell (BBWAA); Jim Reeves (formerly Fort Worth Star-Telegram); Glenn Schwarz (formerly of the San Francisco Chronicle); Susan Silser (San Francisco Chronicle); and Mark Wicker (formerly of Southern California News Group).