Barry Bonds should have been voted into the Hall of Fame

Barry Bonds should be in Hall of Fame since he would have been a Hall of Famer without steroids. If you talk about the history of baseball you have to include the steroid era. It’s a baseball museum about the history of baseball and he has the most home runs in baseball history.

A factor that surely went against Bonds is that people did not like him and the way that he treated other people as well as the media. It is not good that he treated people the way he did, but that shouldn’t be what kept him out of the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). The other factor is obviously steroids, but David Ortiz was a first ballot induction this year and there are many other players who cheated who are in the Hall of Fame. It does not make sense that one of the best players in baseball history did not get enough votes to get into a museum about baseball.

Bonds is a seven-time MVP, 14-time All-Star, he won one Home Run Derby, he won the batting title twice, he was a 12-time Silver Slugger winner and he won eight Gold Gloves in his career that would have been Hall of Fame worthy even if he did not do steroids. He was a generational talent who had a .298 lifetime average, an MLB record 762 homers and 2,558 walks in his 22-year MLB career filled with many accomplishments. His 73 homers in 2003 are the most ever hit in one season in MLB history.

He had four consecutive MVPs from 2001 through 2004 and in those four seasons he had a remarkable .349 average, averaged 52 homers and compiled an unheard of .559 on-base percentage.

Bonds also had the most homers, RBI and runs scored in the 1990s and was the best player of his generation. From 1990 through 1992, his last three seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who drafted him with the sixth overall pick in 1985, he won two MVPs and had a 2nd place in MVP season in the third season in that span. In 1990 as a 25-year-old well before PEDs, he had his best season of the those three when he had 104 runs scored, 32 doubles, 33 homers, 114 RBI, 52 steals (career-high), a .301 average, a .406 on-base percentage and he led the league with his .565 slugging percentage, .970 OPS and 170 OPS+.

Bonds hit .298/.444/.607 and stole 514 bases in his 22 MLB seasons (seven with the Pirates and then 15 with the Giants). He led the league in runs scored once, he led the league in homers twice, he led the league in RBI once, he led the league in walks 12 times, he led the league in OBP 10 times, he led the league in slugging percentage seven times, he led the league in OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) nine times and he led the league in OPS+ nine times.

A major reason he was not selected is because of his steroid usage but he did have an impressive 494 homers and 1,405 RBI before 2000, which is when it is widely believed that he began using PEDs.

He also even had 400 homers and 400 steals before 1998, which proves he was on track to make the Hall of Fame even before his connection to steroids began. Baseball also did not even test for PED’s until 2003, and he had five seasons left in his career at that point. Bonds was never actually suspended for steroids, but Alex Rodriguez got a season-long suspension because MLB punished and suspended for steroids when he tested positive and lied.

Bonds was a true five tool player in his career and there were not many who had his power combined with his speed. He also had at least 30 steals nine times and he had a 30/30 (30 homers and 30 steals) season five times.

The Baseball Hall of Fame’s mission statement includes a mandate “to preserve the sport’s history, honor excellence within the game, and make a connection between the generations of people who enjoy baseball.” Bonds without a doubt honors excellence within the game and is a connection between generations of people who enjoy baseball. His stats before he was every linked to steroids definitely should have helped his Hall of Fame case.

His talent and immediate impact when signing with the Giants sparked increased fan interest in San Francisco and paved the way for the building of Pacific Bell park (now Oracle Park) in 2000.

Bonds has the most homers all time, the most walks, the sixth most RBI, the sixth best OBP and the 17th most doubles. Bonds finished in the top 10 in MVP voting 13 times, he hit at least 35 homers 10 times in his career, he had at least 100 walks 13 times and had at least 100 RBI 12 times in his career.

A stat that even more proves Bonds’s dominance is that his average season for 22 years was better than the NL MVP from this season. The 2021 NL MVP Bryce Harper had a 1.044 OPS, 35 homers and a 5.9 WAR. Bonds’s average season for 22 years was a 1.051 OPS, 35 homers and a 7.4 WAR.

It’s basically because the writers like David Ortiz but don’t like Bonds and Clemens that those two were not voted in and Ortiz was. It was Bonds and Clemens final year of eligibility via the BBWAA but still probably get in down the line. It speaks to how the process does not make sense since Ortiz got in on his first try but Bonds and Roger Clemens got bounced after their last year of eligibility from the BBWAA.

Ortiz is one of more than 100 players who tested positive during survey testing in spring training in 2003, but he was not suspended since it was before baseball was testing for and suspending for steroids. If he is in then that means Clemens and Bonds should definitely be in also. They are obviously connected as all are linked to steroids but Bonds and Clemens had better careers than Ortiz, but that does not mean Ortiz does not deserve to be in since he hit 541 homers (17th all time) and was the best DH of all time.

Bonds got 66 percent of votes out of the 75 percent that were needed and Clemens got 65 percent.

Bonds and Clemens can still be voted into the Hall of Fame later on. In December, they will be eligible for the Hall of Fame Today’s Game Committee, which is a 16-person committee that considers players who fell off the BBWAA ballot and made their greatest contributions to baseball between 1988 and 2016.

Clemens won the Cy Young seven times (most ever), he won one MVP (he had a 2.48 ERA, a 0.969 WHIP, 24 wins and 328 strikeouts in 1986 when he won the MVP in his 3rd MLB season), he had a 3.12 ERA and 4,672 strikeouts in 24 seasons.

It would make sense if the BBWAA elected Bonds and Clemens but then it just could have mentioned on their plaques or somewhere close to it that they are connected to steroids. However, to not have those voted in after all that they accomplished in Major League Baseball does not make sense. Bonds is the home run king and one of the best and most feared hitters of all time and Clemens is one of the best pitchers of all time.

A reminder of how great and feared he was as a hitter was that in 1998, the Arizona Diamondbacks were winning a close game 8–6 in the bottom of the ninth over the Giants, and they decided to intentionally walk him with the bases loaded. The move actually worked for Buck Showalter’s expansion Diamondbacks since Brent Mayne flied out and Arizona won the game. It is unheard of for a player to get intentionally walked with the bases loaded.

David Ortiz was the only player who got voted in by the BBWAA on Monday night. He is one of four players with 500 homers and three World Series championships. He is also one of four Dominicans in the Hall of Fame.