Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are running out of time for election into Cooperstown, but one of the new inductees threw his brand new Hall of Fame hat into the ring for PED-tainted former stars joining him one day among the game's all-time greats.
"Obviously, I have no problem and I've said it publicly often. Barry Bonds is the best baseball player I've ever seen put on a uniform." said Chipper Jones, one of four former players to be voted in by the BBWAA for the Class of 2018. "It's unfortunate that some of the best players of this era have a cloud of suspicion because you're talking about some all-timers, guys that would be considered the greatest player of all-time, the greatest pitcher of all-time.
"That being said, I'm not going to tell anybody how to vote for them. I think both would have been Hall of Famers, regardless, whether they had a cloud of suspicion or not. So I'm just going to leave it at that for now, until the time actually comes."
Bonds, the all-time home run king and a seven-time MVP winner, and Clemens, a 354-game winner and a seven-time Cy Young Award recipient, barely gained any traction this year.
Clemens garnered 57.3 of the 75 percent required for election and Bonds came in at 56.4 percent after each player had jumped nearly 10 points one year ago to 54 percent apiece following the induction of steroids-era commissioner Bud Selig.
The duo only has four of their 10 tries on the ballot remaining before their cases would be shifted to the Hall's various veterans committees. HOF vice chairman Joe Morgan made clear the stance of many current Hall of Famers on the steroids debate with a letter imploring voters to keep out known users in December.
Manny Ramirez (22.0 percent), who was twice suspended for failing MLB-administered PED tests, Gary Sheffield (11.1) and Sammy Sosa (7.8) also continued to linger on the fringes of the balloting.
