On the same evening all-time home run leader Barry Bonds learned his ties to performance-enhancing drugs would keep him out of the Hall of Fame, No. 4 on that list learned he’ll almost certainly meet the same fate.
Alex Rodriguez, a three-time MVP whose 696 home runs trail only Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth and are the most for a shortstop or third baseman, received just 34.3% of the 394 votes cast in balloting released Tuesday by the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America.
Only David Ortiz, A-Rod’s longtime pal and Fox Sports colleague, earned election, easing over the 75% barrier by just 11 votes despite a reported positive drug test in 2003.
Yet Ortiz’s transgression occurred before Major League Baseball had a leaguewide testing program with penalties. Rodriguez, we’d learn years later, was using steroids from 2001-2003 and later earned a one-year suspension for his involvement in the 2013 Biogenesis scandal.
In short, Ortiz did not break baseball’s rules – we’re also not privy to what substance for which he tested positive – while Rodriguez blasted through them like a sports car doing 100 mph in a 25-mph zone. A-Rod’s later-career usage, which per documents obtained from the now-defunct Biogenesis clinic, began in his third MVP season of 2009.
BIG PAPI: Ortiz elected into baseball’s Hall of Fame; Bonds, Clemens denied
STILL A CHANCE: How Bonds, Clemens can still make it into the HOF
Rodriguez eventually sued MLB and the Players’ Assn. in an effort to fight his…
