The Baseball Hall of Fame announced the 2023 Contemporary Baseball Era ballot for the possible induction into Cooperstown, with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling headlining the candidates.
In their final year of eligibility on the baseball writers ballot for induction into the MLB Hall of Fame, Bonds (66%), Clemens (65.2%) and Schilling (58.5%) fell well short of the required 75% threshold to be enshrined into baseball immortality.
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As a result, the three men will join some historic company for the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee to vote on for possible induction into the Hall of Fame.
2023 Contemporary Baseball Era ballot
- barry Bonds
- Roger Clements
- Curt Schilling
- Don Mattingly
- Dale Murphy
- Rafael Palmeiro
- Fred McGriff
- Albert Belle
While there is tracking for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s election process, with the 2023 nominees announced on Jan. 24, the process conducted by the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee is conducted privately.
MLB insider Jayson Stark believes that Fred McGriff, a five-time All-Star selection starred for the Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays, has the best chance at being inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame. However, he notes that this is the most difficult committee to predict.
- Barry Bonds stats (career): .298/.444/.607, 1.051 OPS, 762 home runs, 1,996 RBI, 2,227 hits
After being kept out of the MLB Hall of Fame by the BBWA for alleged steroid use, Bonds and Clements are both viewed as unlikely to make it in through this process.
What is the Contemporary Baseball Era ballot?
The Hall of Fame has three separate committees to determine who gets inducted into the Hall of Fame. If a player doesn’t receive 75% of the vote from the BBWA, those with the highest vote totals who are off the ballots are then voted on by the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee, which consists of 16 members.
The committee votes every three years at the MLB Winter Meetings, with a quorum of three-fourths of the group required to vote.
If either of the players on the ballot is approved by the committee, they will be part of the 2023 Baseball Hall of Fame class.