For the first time since 1996 the MLB Hall of Fame will not admit a new player into its hallowed halls. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero, Mark McGwire and Craig Biggio were all eligible for the voting process to get into the Hall, however, with most of these players holding tarnished reputations because steroid and HGH (human growth hormone) use, not one could surpass the 75% of the vote needed to be granted admittance into the Hall of Fame. “This is quite possibly the most electrifying class of all time, yet there is a great chance that no one will get in” said Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Peter Gammons before the voting in an interview on The Dan Patrick Show. And he was right.

Craig Biggio and Jack Morris received the highest votes for admittance with 68% each. Barry Bonds, the man with the most home runs in the history of Major League Baseball, earned only 36.2% of the vote. Possibly one of the greatest right-handed pitchers in the ever to play the game, Roger Clemens, received 37.6%. Two men with over 1,500 RBIs (runs batted in) and 550 home runs, Rafael Palmerio and Mark McGwire, received under-17% of the vote.

The voters who cast ballots for the new Hall of Fame members are a collection of over seven hundred members from the Baseball Writers Association of America. During the past couple of weeks since the list came out, the voters have debated intensely on who should get into the Hall. This years voting has been known as the most highly debated and controversial voting session of all-time

“Next year, I think you’ll have a rather large class and this year, for whatever reasons, you had a couple of guys come really close,” said MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. “This is not to be voted on to make sure that somebody gets in every year. It’s to be voted on to make sure that they’re deserving. I respect the writers as well as the Hall itself. This idea that this somehow diminishes the Hall of baseball is just ridiculous in my opinion.”

There will still be an induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, the home of the Hall of Fame. Longtime Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, umpire Hank O’Day, and 19th-century catcher Deacon White, who were elected to the Hall last month by the Pre-Integration Committee. This is not an official Hall entry.

This turn of events is a prime reflection of the Steroid Era in baseball and how it continues to plague this great sport.