Steroid suspicions or not, nobody convinced baseball writers they belong in the Hall of Fame.
While the ongoing backlash over baseball's most controversial era left little doubt Barry Bonds and Rogers Clemens would fall short in the voting announced today, 3,060 hits weren't enough to get Craig Biggio the required 75% of ballots cast.
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Biggio's 68% (388 of the 569 votes) came the closest in the first shutout by the Baseball Writers Association of America since 1996. Bonds and Clemens, like Biggio on the ballot for the first time, weren't even close with Clemens receiving 37.6% and Bonds getting 36.2%.
BIGGIO: Falls short in first Hall of Fame bid
TOTALS: Hall of Fame vote totals
"That's ridiculous," Jeff Bagwell, Biggio's long-time Houston Astros teammate, told Mark Berman of Houston TV station KRIV. "You're talking about 3,000 hits and you don't get in on the first ballot. That sucks."
Bagwell, on the ballot for the third time, made the biggest year-to-year gain. He received 59.6%, up from 56%.
Thus, the July 28 induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y., will be limited to the three honorees chosen in December by the Veterans Committee – former Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, early-20th Century umpire Hank O'Day and 19th Century catcher Deacon White. All are deceased, so descendants will take part of the ceremony.
Other notable first-time candidates who fell short were catcher Mike Piazza (57.8%), pitcher Curt Schilling (38.8%) and outfielder Sammy Sosa (12.5%).
"We are optimistic one day soon Mike's plaque, with a Mets cap, will be hanging in Cooperstown where it truly belongs," said New York Mets' COO Jeff Wilpon.
Also left out were others among the 37 eligible players whose vote totals have been climbing year to year, most notably pitcher Jack Morris and outfielder Tim Raines.
Morris, whose inched up to 67.7% from 66.7% last year, still has one year left on the ballot, but his chances will be further clouded by comparisons with pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina among next year's strong class of first-time eligibles. Hitters Frank Thomas and Jeff Kent also will bring strong candidacies in 2014.
Raines climbed from 48.7% to 52%.
The only player for whom time has run out is Dale Murphy. The two-time National League MVP again fell short in his 15th and final year.
Relief pitcher Lee Smith and Edgar Martinez, who spend the majority of his career as a designated hitter, lost momentum as voters continue to be reluctant to support specialists.
Smith slipped to 47.8% from a high of 50.6% last year and Martinez edged down to 35.9% from 36.5%.
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