A peek into Hall of Fame voting booth

Thoughts on the Baseball Hall of Fame vote:

I guess I could blame myself. And Mark Purdy of the Mercury News. As we discovered while waiting for Jim Harbaugh to speak, neither of us voted for Craig Biggio — who missed making the Hall of Fame by two votes. Of course, there were 142 other voters who also didn’t consider Biggio a slam-dunk. However, I’m sure he’ll get in the Hall of Fame next year, as he’s trending the right way.

Trending the wrong way: Barry Bonds, and his evil twin Roger Clemens. Both men slipped in the balloting: Bonds lost eight votes and Clemens lost 12. Both — with percentages in the mid-30s — are miles from the required 75 percent. The belief that both will get in as the “old guard” dies off isn’t happening yet. Thirteen years to go.

Greg Maddux was, in my mind, the ultimate slam-dunk. Tom Glavine probably benefited from being intrinsically linked with Maddux. But Glavine wasn’t nearly as great, which is why I voted for Maddux and decided Glavine could wait.

Frank Thomas also got my vote. Because Thomas was a huge, powerful man who hit a lot of home runs, he was accused of steroid use. In truth, he was simply a huge man — he played football at Auburn — who became an antisteroid crusader. He went directly against the player’s union, advocating for drug testing as early as 1995 and was the only active player willing to speak to George Mitchell in 2007. His body also broke down in a recognizable way as he aged.

The predictable cry is up to fix the voting process but no one says how to fix it. I guarantee you, Bonds and Clemens still would not get in if the voting was done by (1) fans, (2) broadcasters, such as Jon Miller (on record as saying he would not vote for Bonds) or (3) Hall of Famers, who have the harshest views of steroid cheats.

Tony La Russa, on KNBR on Wednesday, was asked what to do about steroids (fill in your own joke here). He said, “Treat the whole era with an asterisk and go from there.” Don’t worry, Tony. For some of us, your Hall of Fame plaque comes asteriskready.