Barry Bonds and the Hall of

Fame
By: Josh Joy

Should Barry Bonds be allowed into the Hall of Fame? That question has been

on the minds of baseball fans for years. I believe that he should, regardless of his use of

performance enhancing drugs. Barry Bonds had one of the greatest careers, if not the

greatest, of any player in history: 14-time All-Star. Eight-time Gold Glove winner. 12-

time Silver Slugger winner. Two-time Batting Champion. Three-time TSN Major League

Player of the Year, All-time leader in home runs (762), walks (2,558) and intentional

walks (688), The only man to hit at least 400 home runs and steal at least 400 bases

(he actually hit 500 home runs and stole 500 bases). And he still maintains the record

for most MVP awards at 7. 

                Throughout most of Bonds career, MLB did not mandate drug testing

periodically throughout the season like they do today. PEDs were banned from MLB in

1991, but they did not begin testing for them until 2003. Bonds has been recognized by

the San Francisco Giants, they retired his jersey in 2018. He was also inducted into the

California Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. 

                Bonds played in a very different era compared to today’s standard of

professional sports. In what we now call the “steroid era”, no one truly knows how many

players were using PEDs. David Wells (a former MLB pitcher) has said 25 to 40 percent

of players were using steroids. Jose Canseco (former MLB player) stated 80 percent of
players used steroids. I believe that there are numerous players in the Hall of Fame who

took PEDs at some point in their careers. 

                With this being said, I do not appreciate or support the fact that Bonds used

PEDs to improve his performance, however, I do believe that his greatness should be

respected. Over the years there have been many players who have cheated in many

different ways. The current sign stealing scandal with the Houston Astros is a great

example. Stealing signs is much worse than taking steroids because with sign stealing,

the hitter knows the exact pitch that will be thrown, whereas with steroids, the player

does not know that, so they still have to adjust during the at bat.

And I’m not alone. Many MLB players posed the same question in the wake of

the scandal. After the Astros got caught stealing signs many MLB pitchers responded.

Alex Wood tweeted, "I would rather face a player that was taking steroids than face a

player that knew every pitch that was coming.”

                In the mid 1990s baseball was declining. In 1994 during the strike MLB was

only 112 games into their season and it was cancelled. There was no end of the season

awards, no team was crowned the champion. The only reason why baseball continued

to grow during those times was because of events like McGwire/Sosa home run race in

1998. In 2001 Bonds shattered the single season home run record by blasting 73.

Roger Maris previously held the record with 61. If you ever have the time to look at

these records you will be able to see why this time was so important for baseball. Barry

bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hold the top 6 spots in the record book for

single season home runs. Many people believe that if the steroid era did not exist,

baseball may not be as popular as it is today.