Barry Bonds-Hall of Fame

This is the first year that the major league's leader in career homeruns will be eligible for the hall of fame. It is very unlikely that Barry Bonds will get the 75% needed to be elected on his first ballot. Some never want to see him in the hall of fame and have painted him as the face of baseball's "steroid era." While I have little doubt that he will get in at some point, it is shame that he will not get in the first time. I am a Barry Bonds fan because he is still the greatest offensive player that I have ever seen. Despite the likelihood that he played on PHD's, I think he is still a legend worth honoring.

The baseball hall of fame is the greatest hall of fame in sports. It is truly an exclusive club that only accepts the very best of the best players. Barry Bonds deserves to be there. He deserved it before 1999 and despite what he did with advantages that not everyone else had, he was the best player of his era. The travesty in all of this is that many of the voters have a very open and personal agenda against Bonds because of how he treated them as sports writers. It really feels like an abuse of power to hold that against him. However good or bad of a person he is, Barry Bonds was a great player and that is what he should be measured by. While steroids and other PHD's will be the reported reason behind him not getting in this time, the truth is that he gave them all an excuse to punish him.

When he gets in, Barry will join the best of the best that this great game has ever seen. Let us just realize that he is not exactly joining the best people the game has ever seen. Babe Ruth was a legendary drinker and heavy smoker, hardly the definition of a role model. Ty Cobb, much like Barry, was legendary for treating reporters and fans like shit. George Brett once nearly assaulted an umpire after being ejected. Roberto Alomar spit in an umpire's face. As much as we would love for our stars of the game to be role models and heroes, that is not their place. Let's really analyze what they do on the field and in the game when we evaluate the very best. Once you analyze Barry's career their is no doubt where he belongs. He will get there one day.