The annual Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held yesterday, in Cooperstown, and the gala event may have been the strangest in the history of that institution.

All three of the men who became Hall of Famers … were born in the 19th century. Each has been dead at least 70 years. I had never before heard of one of the guys, could be reminded that a second was involved (as the umpire) in the Merkle Boner of 1908 and had a passing recognition for the third, the owner of the Yankees when they first became the Yankees.

Where were the living greats?

1) On probation. 2) In purgatory. 3) Missing in action.

The Steroids Era is the biggest factor in play.

Normally, the likes of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens would have been near-unanimous first-ballot choices by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), the people who vote on who gets in and who does not.

(A player’s name must appear on 75 percent of the ballots turned in by the electorate, made up of journalists who have been BBWAA members for at least 10 consecutive years.)

In voting at the end of 2012 … not one player out of the game for at least five years (the required waiting time) reached that 75 percent threshold.

Because of performance-enhancing drugs.

We have reached a point where the electorate clearly will not give enough votes to any player widely perceived (or known) to have used banned substances for some key segment of his career. If you are thought to be “clean” … you can still get in.

That happened last year, when the BBWAA happily elected Barry Larkin, but continued to overlook Mark McGwire.

In voting for the 2013 inductees, however, the leading candidates, including Sammy Sosa, were guys who have been linked to PEDs — and the BBWAA is not ready to send them to Cooperstown.

The player who came closest to being elected by the writers was Craig Biggio, gritty little second baseman. In his case, 32 percent of the electorate apparently thought he just wasn’t good enough.

Meanwhile, Clemens appeared on only 37.6 percent of the ballots, Bonds on 36.2, McGwire (in his seventh year on the ballot) only 16.9 and Sosa a mere 12.5 percent.

Clearly, the voters are not prepared to turn a blind eye to those tarred by the perceived (or known) drug use.

I was a Hall voter for more than a decade, giving up that right when I took a job in Abu Dhabi and came off the voting rolls.

But, had I participated in the election, I would have done what the majority of current voting members did — made Bonds and Clemens and Sosa wait.

Some of the voters will never vote for those guys. Some want to make them wait for a spell, to reflect on how they damaged the integrity of the game by destroying the fair comparisons of baseball history by using chemical enhancements not available to, say, Babe Ruth or Ted Williams or Hank Aaron.

Thus, a Hall of Fame ceremony in which the “oldtimer’s committee” picks three men long dead. (Opening another discussion; is it worth gaining this sort of recognition seven decades after you are dead? Shakespeare, it is said, was little-regarded while he was alive. Would you rather be famous alive and forgotten dead?)

Short term, the issue of the BBWAA electing someone (or several someones) to the Hall should not be a problem. Greg Maddux is eligible on the next ballot, as are Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas. None of them are associated with drug use.

The following year, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Greg Smoltz are up.

For the absent Class of 2013, especially Bonds, Clemens, Sosa and McGwire … their infamy is too much for the Hall of Fame.

Maybe later. Maybe never.