Bonds out, Jeter voted in to Hall of Fame

Former Giants great Barry Bonds denied entry for eighth time Tuesday

Barry Bonds, down to the final three outs of his candidacy on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, struck out again on Tuesday.

Baseball’s greatest player of the past quarter century, Bonds’ path to Cooperstown continues to be compromised by performance-enhancing drug accusations as he was named on 60.7 percent of the Baseball Writers Association of America ballots, still well shy of the necessary 75 percent for the hallowed hall.

The former Giants star, who left

Major League Baseball in 2007 as its all-time home run leader with 762, will appear on the ballot just two more times before dropping off.

However, the Hall’s doors did swing open for another iconic star Tuesday when former Yankees great Derek Jeter was voted in after earning 99.7 percent of the vote. Jeter, a 14-time All-Star and five-time world champion, was just one vote shy of joining former Yankees teammate Mariano Rivera, who last year became the first player to be unanimously selected to the Hall of Fame. Only one of the 397 voters didn’t cast a vote for Jeter.

Meanwhile, former Rockies slugger Larry Walker, who won three National League batting titles, was also inducted as he received 77.6 percent of the votes while making it by just six votes.

Jeter and Walker will be joined at the induction ceremonies in New York on July 26 by former catcher Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller, former head of the players association, both of whom were elected by the Modern Baseball Era Committee last month.

Despite Bonds missing the cut for the eighth straight year, he is

still trending toward induction as his voting totals have increased for the sixth straight year. He was named on 59.1 percent of the ballots last year after appearing on 56.4 percent of them two years ago. The good news for Bonds, a seven-time MVP winner who remains in the conversation of the game’s alltime greats, Hall of Fame history has shown that rarely has a player received at least 50 percent of the vote and not get in eventually.

Then again, there’s never been such a polarizing candidate like Bonds, the most feared player in the game for a large chunk of his 22year career, and then the game’s most reviled after being accused of taking shortcuts (PEDs) to further stardom.

Still, Pete Rose, another baseball pariah who’s been banned from the game the past 30 years for illegal gambling, feels not having Bonds in Cooperstown is a great injustice.

“If Barry Bonds isn’t a Hall of Famer, you shouldn’t have a Hall of Fame,” Rose told 95.7 The Game after Bonds didn’t make the cut a year ago.

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JULIE JACOBSON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter jumps after hitting the game-winning single against the Baltimore Orioles in the ninth inning of a baseball game, in New York.

ROBERT TONG — MARIN IJ Barry Bonds reacts to J.T. Snow’s game tieing homer in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the background is third baseman Robin Ventura.