A six-year controversy and a lifelong debate… Should Barry Bonds be inducted into the Hall of Fame? Well, not this year. With the announcement Wednesday afternoon that Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman were all elected, that will conclude the 2018 class and the debate will continue on into 2019 for Bonds – although the majority of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America believe that he needs to be kept out because of the allegations against him for steroid use. My biggest argument: what drug test was failed?
In no way is the evidence stacked against him being denied, however, the hypocrisy that exists within the current group of Hall of Famers… well, no one can tell me that there are zero suspicions in those guys. For guys like Bonds and Roger Clemens – arguably the best guys to ever play the game – it is disheartening to think that they will never get their chance to mark their spot in history in that way. Both of their eligibility for the HOF runs out in 2022, leaving four years for the BBWAA to figure out what’s important to them.
No, I don’t condone cheating in professional sports as most people would argue; what I do advocate for is a fair system that does not let mere physicality be the basis of their induction decisions. For those unfamiliar, it was the steroid era… everyone was doing it: PED’s, amphetamines, greenies, you name it. You would be stupid not to. Managers encouraged it to help their team out. I think that is wrong by all standards. But, how would anyone succeed in the game if they stayed clean during a time when no one bothered to check? Testing in the league didn’t even begin until 2005. I do feel for the people who genuinely maintained a clean slate throughout their entire career and oppose the induction of suspected users… but how can suspicions act as a brick wall without evidence?
But, if you take into account that fact that long before any accusations were made against Bonds he was already one of the greatest in history (1997 to be exact), before he was shooting up his muscles, before the steroid era truly begun, etc., then it is a no-brainer to say that he earned his spot in the HOF years before the controversy around him emerged.
Over the last five years, both Bonds and Clemens have steadily crept towards the required 75% voting requirement to be inducted, meaning there could be a bright light at the end of the tunnel for these two. And let’s be honest, what is a BHOF without the all-time leader in home-runs and the seven-time Cy Young Award winner? They are forever intertwined into baseball’s rich history.
If the BBWAA always based their voting habits off of rumors and what-ifs, that would be another story. However, they can’t deny the fact that there are guys sitting in the Hall who’ve used performance-enhancing drugs.
This year, Bonds received 56.4% of the vote and Clemens received 57.3%. Both made a jump, a small one, but a jump nevertheless, from last year’s ballot. Hopefully, they make an even larger one next year and the BBWAA doesn’t allow 2022 to pass without their names in Cooperstown.
