When the 2016 MLB Hall of Fame ballots were officially released on Wednesday, it was Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza that got the nod into Cooperstown. However, a number of other names - specifically Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens - saw an increase in the percentage of their votes, which may help their chances in subsequent years.
But how legitimate is it?
Here are Bonds' vote percentage totals since debuting on the Hall of Fame ballot:
2013 - 36.2%
2014 - 34.7%
2015 - 36.8%
2016 - 44.3%
Here are Clemens' vote percentage totals since debuting on the Hall of Fame ballot:
2013 - 37.6%
2014 - 35.4%
2015 - 37.5%
2016 - 45.2%
Bonds and Clemens are infamously associated with steroid use during their playing careers and many members of the Baseball Writers Association of America refuse to cast a vote for anyone who was allegedly involved with performance-enhancing drugs. So why did the former MLB greats see nearly an eight percent spike in their vote totals?
"The percentage increases for Clemens and Bonds, then, were something of an illusion -- and almost directly attributable to the Hall's decision last July to eliminate voters who were more than 10 years removed from actively covering the game," writes FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal.
"That decision led to 109 fewer votes than in 2015 - fewer votes by older writers who as a group presumably were less inclined than younger voters to support players linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
"So, while a number of writers, including myself, revealed publicly that they were voting for Clemens and Bonds for the first time, the two players lost other votes, some from the 109."
And remember, players need 75 percent of the vote for induction, so even with the ostensible increase, both Bonds and Clemens still need over 130 votes to achieve that goal. Also, with Mark McGwire (12.3 percent) and Sammy Sosa (7 percent) not gaining much ground from last year's ballot voting, it doesn't look as if Bonds and Clemens have a promising shot, especially with players such as Ivan Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero and Jorge Posada hitting the ballot in 2017.
