Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield, and Fernando Valenzuela were revealed today by the Hall of Fame as this year’s candidates on the Era Committee ballot. Previously called the Veterans Committee, a panel made up of 16 former players, executives, sportswriters, and historians from around the game will meet during this year’s Winter Meetings to vote on whether or not these eight players will be elected into the Hall of Fame. At least 12 of those 16 votes are needed to be inducted into Cooperstown, and the results of this year’s vote will be revealed at 6:30pm CT on December 7.
The Era Committee rotates between three pools of candidates every year. The “Contemporary Baseball Era” is split into two pools, one for players from 1980 to the present and one for executives, managers, and umpires from that same period. A third pool is made up of all individuals from the “Classic Baseball Era,” which covers everything from before 1980. This year’s pool is littered with recent stars who should be household names for the majority of baseball fans. Bonds, Clemens, Kent, and Sheffield in particular fell off the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot only in the past few years. This process is separate from the BBWAA ballot, where Carlos Beltran looks like the likeliest candidate to be inducted into Cooperstown this winter after garnering 70.3% of the vote in 2025.
The Hall of Fame tweaked the Era Committee eligibility rules earlier this year. Starting with this year’s class, any candidate who falls short of five votes will be ineligible for consideration during their era’s next cycle. Candidates who receive fewer than five votes multiple times will be made permanently ineligible for future consideration. The change is not retroactive, so it will not impact any previous candidates.
The last Contemporary Era players ballot saw the unanimous election of Fred McGriff in 2022. Half of the candidates from that pool (Bonds, Clemens, Mattingly, and Murphy) will get another shot this year. Curt Schilling, Rafael Palmeiro, and Albert Belle were dropped off the ballot. With many of the names mentioned in this post, the players would have been elected long ago just based on statistics, but connections to steroid use have complicated the process.
Bonds received 66% of the votes in his final BBWAA ballot in 2022. Clemens also came up short that year, getting 65.2% of the vote. Kent got 46.5% of the vote in 2023, his final year of eligibility. Sheffield fell off the ballot after 2024, when he received 63.9% of the vote. Delgado was a one-and-done in 2015 when he received just 3.8% of the vote. Valenzuela was only on the ballot two years, getting 6.2% of the vote in 2003 and then 3.8% in 2004. Mattingly’s last season on the writers’ ballot was 2015, though he has been considered by the Veterans Committee three times since. Murphy has also been considered by the Veterans Committee three previous times, with his last year on the writers’ ballot being 2013.
