MLB San Francisco Giants

Barry Bonds Remains HOF-Worthy Despite PED Allegations

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By @real_johnshea

Barry Bonds Hall of Fame

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The smoldering dark cloud forever engulfing the legacy of San Francisco Giants hero Barry Bonds may not ever dissipate to the point of enabling him to gain entry into baseball’s prestigious museum, but that doesn’t change the fact that the all-time home run king is well deserving of that honor.

Bonds received just 36.8 percent of respect from the heralded BBWAA in official Hall of Fame voting this year, a slight 2.1 percent increase from 2014. He remains distant from becoming forever cemented in baseball immortality at Cooperstown, and it’s possible that he will never reach that echelon. It’s also possible that it may never happen more so because of Bonds’ poor reputation of handling the media during his playing days than actual performance-enhancing drug allegations.

Bonds somehow yielded four fewer votes than Roger Clemens (206) in this year’s voting, which is preposterous considering that both all-time greats are essentially being spurned for the same reason. How can a writer of national notoriety vote for one PED-stained legend and not the other? The answer to that question isn’t about logic; rather, it concerns individual bias and perhaps hurt feelings.

Regardless of whether Bonds is ever properly recognized as a Hall of Famer, his legend as the best hitter in the modern day era of baseball (and perhaps the best ever) cannot be disputed. Bonds was a 14-time All-Star and seven-time MVP during his 22-year career. He remained the most feared hitter in the game even at the age of 42, blasting 28 home runs en route to overtaking Hank Aaron for sports’ most prized record in 2007.

Bonds was the flat-out best hitter during a tainted period of baseball in which the pitchers he often faced were equally as enhanced as he was. There isn’t a single moment that epitomizes that reality more than Bonds’ epic two-run blast off a 101 mph fastball from Eric Gagne in the bottom of the ninth inning at AT&T Park on April 16, 2004.

Bonds had sliced a towering fly ball that reached McCovey Cove right of the foul pole earlier in that at-bat, and battled through seven pitches before eventually doing what more than 42,000 fans in attendance knew he would do. The predictability of his at-bats is partly what made him one of the most entertaining hitters to watch in the history of baseball.

Bonds obliterated Gagne’s 2-2 pitch, launching a blistering line-drive home run to centerfield. The Giants lost that game by the final score of 3-2, but the outcome almost didn’t matter for those watching. Bonds’ legend as the most jaw-dropping player in the game forever lives on, and perhaps the memories of his greatness supersede the bronze plaque that BBWAA members refuse to honor him with.

John Shea is an MLB writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @real_johnshea. Like him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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