Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are among the eight players on this year’s Era Committee ballot unveiled Monday by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Candidates need to receive votes on 75% of the ballots cast by the 16-member committee to become part of the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame Class. The members of the committee will be announced later this fall, and the voting results will be announced live on MLB Network at 7:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 7.
For more on the Era Committee eligibility requirements, click here.
Here’s a quick look at the eight players up for Hall of Fame consideration on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot:
Firmly in the conversation of the best position player in MLB history, Bonds is baseball’s home run king with 762 career dingers. His 73 homers in 2001 stand as the single-season record, too. He is the all-time leader in walks (2,558), Baseball-Reference WAR by a position player (162.8) and Most Valuable Player Awards (seven). He won four consecutive MVPs from 2001-04 with the Giants. During that span, Bonds’ average slash line was .349/.559/.809. He was a two-time batting champion who led the National League in on-base percentage 10 times and in slugging percentage seven times.
A 14-time All-Star and 12-time Silver Slugger Award winner, Bonds was also a plus defensive player for much of his career and took home eight Gold Gloves. He stole 514 bases and finished nine seasons with at least 30 steals, including a 40-40 season in 1996.
“The Rocket” won seven Cy Young Awards, the most by any pitcher. His first came in 1986, when he also captured AL MVP honors as the Red Sox’s 24-year-old ace. He earned his final Cy Young with the Astros in 2004 at the age of 42. In between, Clemens won World Series championships with the Yankees in 1999 and 2000.
An 11-time All-Star, Clemens won seven ERA titles and was a pitching Triple Crown winner in 1997 and ‘98 with the Blue Jays. And we can’t forget about all of his strikeouts. Clemens was a league leader in K’s five times, authored two 20-strikeout games and retired after 24 seasons with 4,672 strikeouts, third most in MLB history.
Although they are two all-time greats, Bonds and Clemens’ connections to performance-enhancing drugs impacted their Hall of Fame candidacies while they were on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot.
Delgado slugged 473 home runs during his 17-year career and is the Blue Jays’ franchise leader with 336 homers. He spent his first 12 seasons with Toronto and earned his two All-Star selections and three Silver Slugger Awards as a Blue Jay. He was the AL MVP runner-up in 2003, when he recorded 42 homers and an MLB-best 145 RBIs. Delgado topped the 100-RBI mark nine times and finished among the top 10 in MVP voting four times. He was honored with the Roberto Clemente Award in 2006 while a member of the Mets.
Arguably the game’s best run-producing second baseman, Kent’s 377 career home runs are the most among players who primarily played the keystone position. He also ranks third among second basemen in RBIs (1,518) and second in slugging percentage (.500). While he was a productive player early in his career with the Mets, Kent really broke out once he arrived in San Francisco in 1997. Over the next six seasons, he produced a .297/.368/.535 slash line with 175 home runs and more than 100 RBIs each year.
Kent earned three of his five All-Star selections and won three of his four Silver Sluggers with the Giants, and he was named the 2000 NL MVP. He was also solid in the postseason, with nine homers and an .840 OPS through 49 games.
Mattingly spent his entire 14-year career with the Yankees and was one of the best hitters of the 1980s. During that decade, he garnered his six All-Star Game selections, won a batting title as well as an MVP Award, led the AL in hits twice and captured his three Silver Sluggers. A .307 lifetime hitter, Mattingly was slowed by injuries during the back half of his career, but he still earned four Gold Gloves in his final seasons, giving him eight total.
After retiring in 1995, Mattingly moved into the coaching ranks and spent 12 seasons combined managing the Dodgers (2011-15) and Marlins (2016-22). He guided Los Angeles to three division titles and was the 2020 NL Manager of the Year with Miami.
Of the top 13 position players in bWAR during the 1980s, Murphy is the only player not in the Hall of Fame. His 47.1 bWAR in the decade ranks 10th among that crew. No one had more total bases during the decade than Murphy’s 2,796, and his 308 homers were the second most. He cracked 36 home runs in 1982 and ‘83 and was feted as NL MVP after each season.
During an 18-year career spent mostly with the Braves, Murphy was a seven-time All-Star, a five-time Gold Glove Award winner, a four-time Silver Slugger and the Clemente Award recipient in 1988.
Sheffield, one of the most intimidating hitters of his time, bashed 509 home runs and drove in 1,676 runs during his 22-year career. He topped 30 homers and 100 RBIs eight times and exceeded 300 total bases six times. That includes his MLB-high 323 total bases for the Padres in 1992, the same year he won a batting title.
Sheffield was a star during the 1997 postseason, batting .320 with a 1.061 OPS en route to a World Series title with the Marlins. Then, from 1999-2005 with the Dodgers, Braves and Yankees, he registered a .307/.408/.558 slash line with 247 homers.
Valenzuela broke into the big leagues in 1980 at 19 years old and by 1981, he was a worldwide phenomenon. The left-hander from Mexico won the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards in ‘81 as Fernandomania swept across the sport. He completed 11 of his 25 starts that season and racked up eight shutouts. He also won the World Series with the Dodgers that year and again in 1988.
A 17-year veteran, Valenzuela recorded a 3.34 ERA and averaged 233 1/3 innings per season from 1981-90 with Los Angeles. That stretch included six All-Star selections, four top-five finishes for the Cy Young, two Silver Sluggers and a Gold Glove.
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