SAN DIEGO -- On the first afternoon of the Winter Meetings, Bruce Bochy got up from a podium and saw an old friend walking up to take his place. The next manager due to speak to the media was Dusty Baker, and the two former Giants shook hands and then exchanged laughs and smiles as they caught up for a couple of minutes.
Had a vote gone a different way, Bochy and Baker could have been joined by a player who starred for both of them. Barry Bonds was on the ballot for the Contemporary Baseball Era committee that met Sunday, but Bonds did not come close to getting enough support to finally punch his ticket to Cooperstown.
Fred McGriff was the only former player elected and Bochy said he was thrilled for McGriff and would send him a congratulatory text. He also said he expects to do the same for Bonds one day.
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Bochy said he tries "not to get caught up" in the voting totals, but he believes Bonds is going to get into the Hall of Fame eventually.
"He was really good the one year I had him and I'm thankful for the time I had with him," Bochy said. "I actually pull for him, to be honest. I think the world of Barry. But I understand those guys, that group (connected to PEDs), they're having a difficult time. But I think it's going to happen for him at some point."
Bonds will get another shot through the committee in 2025, but had he not returned to managing, Bochy likely would have beat him to Cooperstown. Managers will be on the committee's ballot next season and Bochy was considered a lock before taking the Texas Rangers job last month.
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Baker, after winning his first World Series title, is also a lock to get in when his days in the dugout are over. He said he didn't pay much attention to the committee's vote on Sunday because he didn't want to be disappointed, but like Bochy, he was thrilled for McGriff. Baker said he hopes Jeff Kent gets in at some point, as well, and he threw his support behind Bonds and others in a similar position.
"At some point in time maybe we can forgive them," he said. "But Barry, Sammy (Sosa), Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire, I mean what they meant to baseball and the amount of energy and enjoyment that they gave to the world, I mean, you still can't take that away from them."