There will be no boycott of the July induction ceremonies in the small upstate New York community of Cooperstown as many of the current Hall of Famers pledged to do if any of the steroid-era players received enough votes to be elected as part of the Class of 2013.
As it turned out, no one garnered the requisite 75 percent to get in marking the first time since 1996 that that has happened.
Notable individuals tied to performance enhancing drugs never got more than 40 percent. Roger Clemens led the pack with 37.6 followed by Barry Bonds (36.2), Mark McGwire (16.9), Sammy Sosa (12.5) and Rafael Palmeiro (8.8). The latter just receiving enough votes to stay on the ballot for one more year.
What the BBWAA got wrong was the number of ballot boxes checked for the PED Generation which kept some of the more deserving players out of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Conversely, there are voters who send in their ballots with just one or two names checked when they can vote for up to ten. It reeks of bias or simple indifference to their voting privilege. Others simply fail to send a ballot in.
The Hall of Fame voting process should mandate that if you have a vote you must participate otherwise that privilege is revoked. Additionally, to insure that everyone has a fair chance for induction, it shall be required that you must vote for ten, not less. Would that mean that steroid users could get in, possibly, but so-called fence-sitters would get an honest shot if for nothing else, they played the game the right way.
First time candidates Craig Biggio and Mike Piazza finished one-two getting 68.2 percent and 57.8 percent, respectively, which bodes well for them next year. Holdovers Jack Morris (67.7), Jeff Bagwell (59.6),Tim Raines (52.2), Lee Smith (47.8) also fell short.
Two players who were expected to gain some momentum because they played their entire careers without controversy and a respectable résumés were Dale Murphy and Fred McGriff. Murphy fell far short with 18.6 percent and will now have to hope the Veterans Committee will think him worthy as he falls off the ballot after 15 years of trying. McGriff, who finished his career seven homers short of 500, which is usually a ticket to Cooperstown, once again had a disappointing showing with 20 percent.
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