NEW YORK — Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are the leading candidates returning to baseball’s Hall of Fame ballot in a year without any favorites among the new names.
Schilling was third behind Derek Jeter and Larry Walker with 278 of 397 votes last year, finishing at 70% and 20 votes shy in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Clemens had 242 votes for 61% and Bonds 241 for 60.7%, both well short of the 75% needed, which was 298 votes last year. Both were overwhelming favorites before suspicions of steroids use.
Clemens has denied using performance-enhancing drugs, and Bonds says he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.