Unpopular Opinion: Barry Bonds belongs in the Hall of Fame
Major League Baseball’s home run king deserves to be enshrined in the hallow halls of Cooperstown.
However, before we delve any further, let’s take a quick overview of the rules and parameters for the National Baseball Hall of Fame election. According to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, players are eligible to remain on the Baseball Writer’s Association of America ballot for ten years. After ten years, a player is moved onto the Era Committee system for review.
According to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, members of the BBWAA earn a Hall of Fame vote from its organization, which is independent of the Hall of Fame, by maintaining 10 consecutive years on a baseball beat. Those Hall of Fame eligible voters are required to complete a registration form and sign a code of conduct.
Speaking of code of conduct, let’s address the elephant in the room: Bonds’ extensive use of Performance Enhancement Drugs.
According to ESPN, Bonds admitted to receiving "cream" and "clear" substances from his personal trainer, Greg Anderson. Both the “cream” and “clear” substances were undetectable, testosterone-based steroids.
In no way shape or form should athletes be condoned for their rampant use of PED’s, however, here’s the catch: Bonds was already a Hall of Fame player without the use of steroids.
According to The Washington Post Bonds admitted to using steroids as early as 1998. Therefore, hypothetically speaking, if we were to eliminate his career stats from 1999-2007, it’s almost impossible to deny that Bonds belongs in Cooperstown.
If Bonds would have retired in 1998, his career stat line would include a .290 batting average with 411 home runs, 1,917 hits, 1,216 RBI, 1,357 walks (289 intentional) and a .966 OPS (164 OPS+), per Baseball-Reference. With such hefty figures, that would have put Bonds in company of legendary players such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams.
All five players slugged at least 400 home runs and 1,900 hits combined with a .290 career average and 160 career OPS+. Four of those men are immortalized in Cooperstown, Bonds is not.
As a cherry on top, let’s also throw cyber metrics into the mix. Jay Jaffe’s JAWS System which compares players to the players at his position who are already enshrined, using advanced metrics to account for the wide variations in offensive levels that have occurred throughout the game’s history, lists the 1998 version of Bonds just behind Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson and ahead of Carl “Yaz” Yastrzemski, per The Washington Post.
In other words, if Bonds would have retired in 1998, he would’ve ended his career as the third-most offensive productive left fielder in the history of baseball.
Nine years of waiting on the BBWAA is plenty enough punishment. Is Bonds guilty of using PED’s? Absolutely. Will it kill baseball’s image if Bonds is elected into the Hall of Fame? Potentially.
However, one thing is for certain, if you put aside the PED’s, you can’t deny the fact that Bonds’ offensive production makes him a Hall of Famer.