Major League Baseball announced Tuesday evening that, among the many deserving candidates on the ballot, the only player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022 will be former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who received 77.9% of votes.

In his final appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot, Barry Bonds fell short of receiving the necessary 75% of votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for enshrinement in Cooperstown, New York. The all-time home runs leader came in at 66%, his best showing throughout his 10 years on the ballot.

In fact, he gained votes each year, but now it’ll be up to the Today’s Game Committee to put the seven-time NL MVP among baseball’s greats. The committee considers retired MLB players no longer eligible for HoF election by the BBWAA, along with managers, umpires and executives, whose greatest contributions to the game were realized from the 1988-2016 era. The 16-person team will meet again in December; 12 votes are needed for induction.

Many of the voters vowed to never vote for a performance-enhancing drug user, which is why the former Giants left fielder is on the outside looking in—despite never testing positive for a banned substance during his MLB career. It’s also why pitcher Roger Clemens, also in his final year of eligibility, and Alex Rodríguez, his first year on the ballot, did not meet the three-quarters threshold.

In 2009, however, multiple news outlets reported that Ortiz was among the players who tested positive for a banned substance during a 2003 supposedly anonymous testing survey conducted by MLB.

“You can’t tell the story of baseball without David Ortiz. Congrats to him,” Giants pitcher Alex Wood tweeted Tuesday. “But if he can get into the HOF on the first try with a positive test on his résumé then how in god’s name does Bonds and Clemens not get in? The system is now officially broken in my eyes.”

“I know there are a lot of things going on, but to me, [Bonds] was a Hall of Famer way before everything, all the talk, all the things. This is a guy who played the game at a whole different level,” Ortiz said. “Not having (Bonds and Clemens) join me at this time is something that’s hard to believe, to be honest with you. Those guys did it all. It is what it is, and there’s nothing I personally can do about it.”

Bonds did not speak publicly—though he posted on Instagram, “CONGRATULATIONS Big Papi on your induction into the Hall of Fame! Well deserved…I love you my brother.”—following Tuesday’s news, but Clemens released his own statement on social media.

“My family and I put the HOF in the rear-view mirror ten years ago,” he said. “I didn’t play baseball to get into the HOF. I played to make a generational difference in the lives of my family. Then focus on winning championships while giving back to my community and the fans as well. It was my passion. I gave it all I had, the right way, for my family and for the fans who supported me. I am grateful for that support.”

Ortiz’ former teammate Curt Schilling also appeared on his 10th and final ballot this year.

“I’ll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player,” Schilling wrote on his Facebook page.

The 2022 Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place July 24 and includes four Golden Days Era committee inductees—Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso, and Tony Oliva—and two Early Baseball Era committee inductees, Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil.

Other former Giants who were on this year’s ballot include five-time All-Star and 2000 NL MVP Jeff Kent, who garnered 32.7% of the votes; two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, who failed to reach the 5% necessary to remain on the ballot.

Former San Francisco Giants’ legend and all-time Major League Baseball home runs leader Barry Bonds, claims he’s been shunned from baseball since his retirement in 2007. In a full-fledged interview with The Athletic on Sunday, Bonds explained his feelings regarding his intricate legacy.

While discussing his relationship with the MLB, Bonds said his heart has been “really broken” and claims the league has somewhat banished him. “A death sentence. That’s what they’ve given me,” Bonds said. Less than two months ago, Bonds missed out on being selected for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his eighth year of eligibility receiving only 60.7% of the vote. The requirement to be enshrined at Cooperstown is a minimum vote of 75% and 2022 is the last year of Bonds’ eligibility.

“If they don’t want me, just say you don’t want me and be done with it. Just be done with it,” Bonds told The Athletic. The 55-year-old has been working as guest hitting instructor with the Giants in spring training, but hasn’t had a full time role with a team since he was the Marlins’ hitting coach in 2016.

Bonds later added that he feels like a “ghost in a big empty house, just rattling around.”

His 762 home runs are the most in MLB history and he also holds the record for most home runs in a single season with 73 in 2001. In July 2015, federal prosecutors dropped their remaining part of criminal case against him regarding steroid use that has spanned almost a decade. Bonds referred to the decision as a huge “weight lifted.”

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“I know what I did out there,” Bonds told The Athletic, in reference to his playing career. “I know what I accomplished between those lines. It’s outside those lines that I would have done some things different.” Bonds never admitted to using steroids, but supposedly told a grand jury that he took a substance that prosecutors claimed contained steroids, according to ESPN.

Barry Bonds will be fired after just one season as Miami Marlins hitting coach, according to a published report.

Report: Marlins Fire Barry Bonds After One Season As Hitting Coach

Per the Miami Herald, the Marlins also dismissed third base coach Lenny Harris and bullpen coach Reid Cornelius in addition to Bonds.

Bonds, 52, Major League Baseball’s single-season and all-time home run leader, was brought in by Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria after the 2015 season — his first job since his retirement with the team — to improve an offense that ranked second-to-last in MLB in runs scored. Bonds was praised for his work with young hitters like Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna.

In 2016, that number was minimally ameliorated, as Miami ranked 27th in runs.

After Bonds’ first year, the offense also ranked fourth in the majors with a .263 batting average, 13th with a .322 on-base percentage and 27th with a .394 slugging percentage.

Although the main reason for Bonds’ firing remains unknown, there reportedly has been some tension building between him and manager Don Mattingly, as well as with star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. In August, Mattingly called out Bonds for his lack of effort.

SiriusXM’s Craig Mish discussed the rift on Twitter.

Yelich enjoyed a breakout season, recording career highs of 21 home runs and 98 RBIs.

Bonds, who was hounded during his playing career by allegations of using performance-enhancing drugs, shared coaching duties with Frank Menechino.

The Marlins (79-82, 3rd in NL East) missed a chance at the playoffs this year. Miami lost to Washington 10-7 in their final game on Sunday.

Caption:JUPITER, FL – FEBRUARY 23: New hitting coach Barry Bonds #25 of the Miami Marlins during a team workout on February 23, 2016 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)

Coming out of the 2016 MLB All-Star Game, the story lines have been etched in stone: David Ortiz says goodbye, again. The Kansas City Royals have really good players and a Canadian tenor is treading in hot water after proclaiming his social stance during his performance of “O’ Canada.”

Lost in the celebration’s for Sally P. (Salvador Perez) and ASG MVP Eric Hosmer was how Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado cost the National League a shot at home field advantage in October.

OPINION: Nolan Arenado Just Cost NL Home-Field Advantage In World Series

With the N.L. trailing the A.L. 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Arenado stepped to the plate representing the game’s tying run.

Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy grinded out a long at-bat before serving one back through the box for a base hit.

With Murphy on first and one out, Arenado turned one over to Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson, who started a 5-4-3, around-the-horn double-play.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that the play was routine, and even from this video it is difficult to surmise where Arenado mis-stepped.

But after reviewing the replay of Fox’s broadcast (like a hundred times) it is impossible to deny that Arenado was dogging it up the line.

FINAL OUT(S) OF 2016 MLB ALL-STAR GAME

Arenado appears confused at first, moving at a snail’s pace out of the box. Then about two-thirds of the way down the first baseline he stops.

John Smoltz, a Hall of Fame pitcher and color-man for Fox’s broadcast of the ASG, intimated that he believed Arenado looked like he lost track of how many outs there were and when Donaldson fired to second, Smoltz speculated that the Rockies third baseman thought that was the ballgame.

It wasn’t.

And that’s why the “Respect 90” campaign, launched by Chicago Cubs Manager Joe Maddon, wages on.

During spring training, Maddon made a point to players that he wanted them to bust it down the first baseline as a means to putting good ju-ju into the atmosphere.

“It really is the message I want to get out there,” Maddon said. “I believe if we respect that 90 feet every day, a lot of good things are going to happen here.”

Not so coincidentally, it could be Maddon’s Cubs that suffer the consequences of Arenado’s error.

Chicago owns the best record in baseball and stand as a 4/1 favorite to reach the World Series.

But due to one Rockie’s half-hearted effort to climb up the first baseline, the Cubbies, and all other N.L. teams vying for a pennant, will play the majority of their games on the road should they reach the mountaintop.

Plenty of people think the rule is dumb.

“How could you decide something so important within an exhibition game?”

Easy. Remember 2002 in Milwaukee, when the game ended in a tie because neither team had any players left on the bench to continue, and it kinda just … ended?

No, maybe you know it better as the Torii Hunter game? When he robbed Barry Bonds of a home run early on and Bonds lifted Hunter into the air as he ran off the field.

TORII HUNTER ROBS BARRY BONDS OF HR IN 2002 ALL-STAR GAME

Well former Commissioner Bud Selig remembers, and by extension, so does Major League Baseball. And neither of them ever want to look that awkward on camera again.

So Arenado having a brainfart halfway out of the batter’s box carries a little more weight than just “the integrity of the game.”

I am certainly not alone in this critique.

Acclaimed baseball writer Peter King tweeted “Way to run, Nolan Arenado.”

Arenado is a fine player. Maybe even better than that considering the entire sports media world has been calling him “the most underrated” player in the game.

But if you’re a fan of an N.L. team, knowing the team with home-field has won six of the last seven World Series, you would almost rather who is overrated … and runs out ground balls.

Baseball legend Barry Bonds became known for being several things during his playing days: a symbol of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ return to prominence, hometown hero with the San Francisco Giants, home run king, suspected steroid cheat. However, he was never very well-liked.

Barry Bonds Says He Acted ‘Stupid’ During Playing Days

Bonds gained a longtime reputation of being standoffish with his teammates and condescending to the media. This quickly led to questions on how well he would get along with people when he joined the Miami Marlins as hitting coach this season.

The former left fielder, now 51, seems to have learned a few lessons in humility since retiring in 2007, and recently admitted he wishes he had displayed a different type of behavior as a player.

“It’s on me. I’m to blame for the way I was [portrayed], because I was a dumbass. I was straight stupid, and I’ll be the first to admit it,” Bonds told Sports on Earth’s Terence Moore in comments offered last week.

“I mean, I was just flat-out dumb,” he continued. “What can I say? I’m not going to try to justify the way I acted toward people. I was stupid. It wasn’t an image that I invented on purpose. It actually escalated into that, and then I maintained it. … No one wants to be treated like that, because I was considered to be a terrible person. You’d have to be insane to want to be treated like that. That makes no sense.”

Bonds also, however, provided some context for his behavior. He stated that as a two-time MVP with the Pirates, he was scapegoated for the team’s repeated postseason failures, something which he naturally said he took personally and was offended by.

Bonds, who is the all-time MLB home run leader with 762, also recalled an incident in San Francisco when he tried to act “nice” at the request of his teammates but soon afterward reached a hitting slump.

“I was like 0-for-21,” he said. “And the first thing those teammates said to me was, ‘We want the old Barry back.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but y’all don’t like the old Barry.’ And they said, ‘We don’t care. We want the old Barry back.’ But the media never knew that was happening, and I was still being cooperative with [reporters] during that stretch, and they were still writing crazy stuff about me, but in that new role, I didn’t care.”

Bonds also added that he has become very passionate about cycling, which he says is easier on his body. The once-fit seven-time NL MVP has discovered “this fitness world of getting lean and thin,” and revealed he dropped about 25 pounds from his playing weight of 240.

The baseball legend also admitted that nobody will probably ever see him as a social animal. “People never really see me out that much,” he said. “When they do, I only like to deal with a small group of people.”

“I’d rather play sports and be active than to really hang out with people,” Bonds added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWIOfRbYJaY

PHOTO: JUPITER, FL – FEBRUARY 23: New hitting coach Barry Bonds #25 of the Miami Marlins during a team workout on February 23, 2016 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson, who grew up in Palo Alto, California, was a longtime fan of San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, just like many other Bay Area kids like him.

Dodgers OF Joc Pederson Says Barry Bonds Ignored Him

However, Pederson recently learned that an athlete may not always necessarily be the same person on and off the field.

Pederson, 24, revealed on Fox Sports Live with Jay and Dan on Thursday that his opinion of baseball’s legendary home run king has completely changed because of one incident. When the Dodgers played a series against the Miami Marlins, Pederson asked his idol, who is the Marlins‘ hitting coach, for a picture after introducing himself and telling Bonds how much he loved watching him play.

Bonds purportedly turned his back and completely snubbed Pederson, who is becoming known as one of Major League Baseball’s most promising sluggers. Pederson gave up and walked away.

“He kind of just turned his back on me and looked and… I don’t know. He big-leagued me.”

The youngster still believes Bonds is the greatest hitter in the history of the sport, but odds are he probably won’t attempt to get another photo with the seven-time National League Most Valuable Player ever again. “I was flustered,” Pederson also added. “I don’t know how I played that day, because I was a mental head case.” The young outfielder said he had previously told his father how excited he was to finally play in a game where Bonds was going to be present. His father, Stu Pederson, played for the Dodgers in 1985.

PHOTO: LOS ANGELES, CA – MAY 17: Joc Pederson #31 of the Los Angeles Dodgers runs the bases after his second homerun of the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Dodger Stadium on May 17, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Restrictions

Barry Bonds has returned to baseball this year as the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins, and he just proved to everyone that he still has plenty of energy left from his legendary playing career.

Barry Bonds Defeats Marlins In Spring Training Home Run Derby

On Wednesday afternoon, MLB’s home run king played some of the Marlins in a home run contest and beat them all, even the team’s superstar slugger Giancarlo Stanton.

Unfortunately, a technical difficulty with the phone used to record the game prevented a video from being released.

SiriusXM’s Craig Mish live tweeted the game:

Caption: JUPITER, FL – FEBRUARY 23: New hitting coach Barry Bonds #25 of the Miami Marlins during a team workout on February 23, 2016 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)

It takes a special swing of the bat to send a ball out of the yard.  A certain stroke is needed to get the baseball over the fence. The power is needed, yes, but without seeing the ball off the bat there is no one that can hit a home run.

After decades of hitting records being broken year after year, the pitchers in the MLB have finally seemed to catch up. Over the past season we saw a new wave of talent emerge from the bump. Teams are developing their young stars and producing them into aces at a quicker pace than ever before. What’s left is teams struggling to win due to the inability to score runs. This year the Royals showed us that you can win by playing ‘small ball.’  They mastered the art of moving runners over and sacrificing outs for runs. This knack led them to bringing a World Series back to Kansas City.

But what if I told you there was an easy way to score runs. A more dramatic way to change a game. The home run. The new pitchers are bringing some serious heat to the plate.  If teams don’t react quickly they could be left without a chance to win the game before it even starts.  The new manager of the Miami Marlins, Don Mattingly, decided it was time his team brought some heat of their own to the plate.

Mattingly recently hired Barry Bonds to his staff as a hitting coach. Normally a new coach bringing in new members to their staff is a non-event.  Well not when that guy is the all time leader in career home runs (762), and also home runs in a single season (73).  Bonds, who last played in 2007, is one of the few men that have that special swing of the bat and is hoping to share his gift with as many people as he can.

There is bad blood behind Bonds, however. In 2007 he was indicted for a testimony that involved connections to a performance enhancing drugs laboratory in the Bay Area. The connection would tarnish his name, cut his chances of making it to the Hall of Fame, and permanently put an asterisk next to his name in the record books.

But that was eight years ago. It’s 2015 and teams are desperate to get a leg up in the battle against opposing pitching. The Marlins roster is loaded with young talent that is as raw as it gets and is ready to take the next step forward. Their $325 million dollar man, Giancarlo Stanton, has proved to us he has the power to get the ball out of the park by hitting numerous 450+ yard home runs. Last season, he hit the league’s longest home run at 484 ft, twice.  He will now be taking advice from the arguably the greatest hitter of our time.

Mattingly took a big chance with signing Bonds. But he knew exactly what he was doing. Allegations of steroid use will always loom over Barry Bonds, no one will argue he wasn’t one of the greats when it comes to hitting a baseball. Strength might play a huge role in Home Runs, but making contact with the ball is a craft that only few have fully mastered. No one was better at doing that than him. He had that certain swing and he used it time and time again to set what will be a nearly unbreakable record. Although he might not ever get his spot in Cooperstown, he may have the answer to baseballs biggest problem.

PHOTO: Former Major League Baseball player Barry Bonds leaves federal court on April 13, 2011 in San Francisco, California. After three and a half days of deliberation, a jury found Barry Bonds guilty on one count of obstruction of justice and was a hung jury on three counts of perjury for lying to a grand jury about his use of performance enhancing drugs. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

There has been a consistent problem with the placing of athletes, from any sport, on a pedestal: especially since, all of these people are human, meaning most of the time the higher placement solely results in a greater fall. This goes from everything like Ray Rice’s very public suspension to the trials after MLB’s ‘steroid era.’ Particularly, the latter has been extremely interesting in the last few years, with the biogenesis scandal and, more importantly, the question should steroid users be allowed in the Hall of Fame?

And while there is certainly a stigma of mistrust about baseball from the late 1980s to the late 2000s, it is time to seriously consider allowing this particular group of players into the Hall of Fame. However, as recent votes have shown, the selection percentages of steroid candidates — Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa — has consistently decreased, suggesting that monumental athletes like Bonds and Clemens will never see the inside of Cooperstown, which is a downright shame.

Photo © ESPN

But, in my opinion, to deny these players from the baseball Hall of Fame would be a disservice to fans, as well as, the MLB. As much as Bud Selig and the writers want to erase any notion of the ‘steroid era’ from the record books, it is here to stay: Roger Clemens is in the top ten in career wins, has seven Cy Young awards, one MVP and is number three on the all time strikeouts list. And Barry Bonds, a seven time MVP, also just happens to be the all time leader in Home Runs. Unless you are going to erase these statistics, these players’ names will forever be etched in MLB history. And for the most part, this should be recognized: if you want to put an asterisk next to their names that is fine, but like it or not, these athletes helped shaped baseball into what it is today.

While there is no reasonable correlation between steroid use and the increased revenue of the MLB, it is no coincidence that since 1995 the “MLB revenue has grown a staggering 264 percent in 18 years:” from 2.2 billion (after inflation) in 1995 to over $8 billion in 2013. And though a good chunk of this increase is from the Internet and television deals, a portion could also be placed on the shoulders of late 90s personalities: the 1998 home run chase between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire, which was later dismantled in the aftermath of the PED scandal, was originally a gold mine for the MLB.

And I totally understand the argument that these players forever tampered with the game, resulting in a stigmatized view of the 90s. More importantly, it is hard to inform children on the negative side effects of the very powerful drug when their idols are taking it. However, after banning the substance in 1991, the MLB did very little to actually police the game: meaning Major League Baseball’s complacency allowed for the errors in the system. Therefore, the management should be blamed for the Wild West atmosphere, as much as the players.

Photo © ESPN

On top of this, as many writers have pointed out, it is not like Cooperstown is hallowed ground in the first place. As Bill Pennington of The New York Times addressed, “a frequent line of thinking is that there is a critical difference between crimes against society and crimes against baseball. A player can, for instance, neglect to pay his income taxes and remain in the good graces of the Hall of Fame (Duke Snider, class of 1980), but neglect to run out routine ground balls and it will undoubtedly cost the player Hall of Fame votes.”

So if one was to truly look at the pasts of Hall of Famers, countless players have distinguished offenses that are worse or on par with the so-called steroid-takers. For instance, Ty Cobb the lovable psychopathic racist, who along with Hall of Famer Tris Speaker, “was implicated in a game-fixing scheme.” Not to mention, both were alleged members of the Ku Klux Klan: something widely believed, even if it was never proven. Even Orlando Cepeda’s 1970s drug charge did not prevent him from garnering his spot in 1999.

And what about the players that slipped through the cracks and made Cooperstown? There have been some allegations thrown around that Hall of Fame players were actively doping in the 70s and 80s: and what about some of the greats — Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays to name a few — who admitted to using amphetamines, which many deem to be a performance enhancing drug. So do you remove these legends from the Hall of Fame? I am not here to badmouth players who worked tirelessly to get in, but the writers and the MLB cannot continue with this hypocrisy of banning certain players from Cooperstown. So yes, in my opinion, both Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens deserve their place in the Hall of Fame — with an asterisk if that makes you feel any better. Especially since, all the MLB and the writers would have to do is take a good hard look at their current stock to realize there are worse indelible marks than steroids.