Bonds, Clemens, Ortiz to be close calls for National Baseball Hall of FameBarry Bonds and Roger Clemens, with eight MVPs and seven Cy Young Awards between them, are in the last inning in their National Baseball Hall of Fame bids. Either they get in Tuesday or Cooperstown may elude them entirely. David Ortiz leads a group of 13 first-time eligible players.

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Jake Seiner · The Associated Press(Associated Press/File )comments

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, with eight MVPs and seven Cy Young Awards between them, are in the bottom of the last inning in their National Baseball Hall of Fame bids. Either they get in Tuesday -- and it's going to be close -- or Cooperstown may elude them entirely.

David Ortiz knows a thing or two about clutch swings late in the game. But he might put this one away in his first at-bat.

Bonds, Clemens and Ortiz appear to be the only players with a chance at Hall of Fame enshrinement when results are unveiled Tuesday, with Ortiz most likely to get in on his first try.

Bonds and Clemens are in their 10th and final year on the ballot for the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Due largely to allegations of performance-enhancing drug use, they have been unable to reach the 75 per cent threshold to earn a place among baseball's greats.

Bonds got 61.8 per cent of the vote in 2021, and Clemens 61.6 per cent. So far this year, Bonds has been included on 77.5 per cent of public ballots tracked by bbhottracker.com, and Clemens is at 76.5 per cent. The tracker has counted roughly 48 per cent of the expected ballots, and players have historically received a lower percentage of votes from members who don't disclose their picks.

That means Bonds, with seven MVPs and a record 762 home runs, and Clemens, with seven Cy Youngs and an MVP, are likely to be frozen out.

Curt Schilling is also in his final year, but his support has dropped off since he finished 16 votes shy last year.

WATCH | Larry Walker inducted to Hall of Fame last September:

Larry Walker becomes 2nd Canadian inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame

5 months agoDuration 1:58Larry Walker of Maple Ridge, B.C. became only the second Canadian, behind Ferguson Jenkins, to be enshrined at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.More MLB coverage

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