MLB Hall of Fame: Bonds Gains Steam, Kent Falls Back

Another year of Hall of Fame voting, and another year where one of the greatest hitters of all-time gets left out of the MLB Hall of Fame.

Barry Bonds received 56.4% percent of the votes, which falls short of the 75 percent needed to enter the MLB Hall of Fame.

Meanwhile, Jeff Kent only got 14.4% percent of the votes.

While Bonds is starting to gain a lot of popularity among younger voters, he’s still not close to enter the Hall.

His numbers have gone up from his first year on the ballot in 2013 when he recieved just 36.2 percent of the votes.

Since then he’s gone 34.7 percent in 2014, 36.8 percent in 2015, up to 44.3 percent in 2016 and then all the way up to 53.8 percent in 2017 before this year’s number.

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Kent started at 15.2 percent in 2014 and has reached as high as 16.7 percent in the 2017 voting. The crowded ballot has really hurt Kent’s case, even though he’s one of the best power hitting second baseman ever.

The case for Bonds has always been clear. He’s possibly the best hitter, and certainly the best power hitter of all-time, but he has a cloud of alleged steroid use hanging over his head.

As the years go on it seems like more votes are starting to jump on the Bonds bandwagon. If anyone from the steroid era is going to be in the MLB Hall of Fame, its going to be Barry Bonds.

A lot of voters are fed up with the Hall of Fame’s lack of clarity on the steroid era subject. Plus, a lot of voters believe that steroid users are already in the Hall of Fame.

Bonds has just four more years on the ballot, and I believe he eventually gets in, even it might come during his last year on the ballot.

Next: San Francisco Giants: A Look at Austin Jackson’s Career

So while we don’t get to see an San Francisco Giants enter the Hall of Fame this year, our time is coming.