I'm called naive, an optimist.
I think my fellow Baseball Writers Association of America voters will get it right.
The votes are in. All had to be received by midnight.
Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens will both get into the Baseball Hall of Fame on their 10th and final try.
Some writers who held their votes because of the steroid controversy will end their punishment.
The writers will put in two of the greatest players who have ever played the game.
Some of the other star players that have Hall-worthy credentials but didn't get enough support to get in are different.
The voters could have eliminated them from the ballot long before their 10 years were up.
It happened to Palmerio. He fell off the ballot in his fourth year after getting less than five percent of the vote, despite being one of just four players in MLB history with 3000 hits and 500 homers.
Palmerio's vote went from 11 percent in 2011 to only 4% in the last election.
Mark McGwire would have gotten in easily if he hadn't used steroids, but he finished with only 12.3 percent of the vote on his tenth try in 2016 and was not elected. McGwire has never been named on more than 20% of the ballots.
Bonds and Clemens have had solid numbers from jump that have continued to climb year after year.
That is with good reason. Without these two, the Hall wouldn't seem right.
Bonds, arguably the greatest hitter we have ever seen and MLB's home run king, and Clemens, arguably the greatest righty pitcher we have ever seen and owner of a record-setting seven Cy Young awards, haven't been dismissed by voters.
Think about it. The percentage of votes for Sammy Sosa would have been low if there wasn't any support for him. They had no chance of going to the museum.
Their numbers wouldn't have increased like they have in the previous four cycles of voting.
Here is a look.
The writers have a history of voting players in on their last try. Larry Walker is in the 2020 class. Walker got 76.6 percent of the vote in his 10th and final try, a 22 percent jump from the previous year. It was the biggest increase in eligibility in 65 years.
I think this will happen for Bonds and Clemens.
The story of baseball can't be told without these two. All their numbers and awards count. They have not been stripped of anything.
The truth is that Bonds and Clemens never tested positive for steroids or were suspended from the game for being caught.
Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz will be hurt. They have the numbers, but A-Rod was suspended by the game for using performance enhancing drugs and Big Papi tested positive for the stuff.
The case where players were busted was hard to blame.
There would be a reason to exclude the players from the Hall if they were tested and found to have used steroids.
The water is muddy. The numbers should be taken at face value.
There are other players who have been linked to the use of performance enhancing drugs who were voted in by the same writers who kept Bonds and Clemens out. Mike Piazza, Pudge Rodriguez, and Jeff Bagwell were added.
I have voted for Bonds and Clemens for nine years. We have to believe that at least 75 percent of the voters will agree.
