He was a massive POS when he was a player (although he’s way more humble and down to earth now), and ofc he cheated the game. But the same applies to several members of the Hall of Fame, including recent inductees. Regardless of what you think about him, you can’t tell the story of baseball without saying Barry Bonds’ name, and he deserves a spot in Cooperstown.
Best hitter ever.
Don’t care. Hank Aaron admitted to amphetamine use and people love him. Additionally, nobody seems to care about the number of pitchers that have conveniently had Adderall prescriptions over the last decade.
Same as I always did, he’s the goat, also was a deeply flawed person, seems to have figured it all out now and is happy. My view of the HOF has been on a steady decline for a decade at this point and I just simply don’t care about it anymore. It’s the hall of fame not the hall of was nice to the media. I understand convictions and all that but at this point most of the voters are just salty cry baby’s that never played the sport.
Greatest hitter in all of baseball and it’s not even close.
I never bought a ticket to a baseball game to watch a player with a ‘great personality’, or ‘all around wonderful guy’.
I like to watch competitive players give 100% effort to WIN.
If that makes me a POS, I’m OK with that.
I liked Pete Rose too.
Greatest hitter ever. Wish he wasn’t a roider.
He’s the greatest player, especially hitter that I’ve ever watched live in my lifetime.
goat
What’s been most interesting to me is conversations I’ve had about Barry with my kid, who is too young to have seen him play and who is a massive, *massive* baseball fan.
Like yes, he cheated. 100% he took PEDs, he did it because he knew it’d help him play better and for longer. He did it in a way designed to keep him from getting caught doing it. That gave him an advantage, no matter what the morons who called into Sportsphone back in the day said.
You look at that from the perspective of a 9 year old and it’s pretty open and shut, right? So it’s been interesting talking through with her about how the players were basically encouraged to use these substances after the strike, how the owners and league turned a blind eye until they needed somebody to blame, how Bonds was an easy target for that sort of scapegoating because of his talent combined with how he treated other people.
Also led to interesting places discussing other eras in baseball, like “would Babe Ruth still be considered the greatest if he’d had to face guys like Cool Papa Bell”, dead ball vs. live ball and how it changes the way you need to understand records, etc.
Easily the best hitter I’ve ever seen, and likely the greatest ever. It’s an absolute joke to see some of these steroid era guys getting into the hall while the best to ever do it sits on the sideline. It doesn’t protect the Hall, it strips the Hall of its legitimacy.
He belongs in the Hall, period.
1a/1b GOAT along with Mays.
Strava goat here in Marin. I hear he’s a beast off-roading too.
Oh and yeah no question best ever at hitting baseballs. Hard to compare eras, and pitching has gotten better since he retired, but the competition he was up against was fiercer than Willie or Babe and he broke the game like no one else ever has.
His walk totals with a hall of famer hitting behind him speak volumes about what the league thought of him.
The man was incredible. Even his outs were thrilling.
We added ops to our fantasy league rules because we wanted him to be at least a first rounder.
I’ve become more critical of cheating and PED use over time so I can’t say I’m super excited about him anymore, but I also think it’s deeply hypocritical that he’s been left out of the HoF while other cheaters and enablers have been inducted. They should either all be removed (including Bud Selig), or Bonds should be in.
No doubt best of all time. Had a lot of growing up to do.
Steroids have no impact on my view of him. People are crazy if they think everyone wasn’t roided up then and honestly is say most probably are now. Steroids are so common in every day life now. Kids in the gym are ob testosterone now. These guys have their livelihood depending on their performance and they are so easy to cycle and mask that everyone is on something.
Sports cover up gambling constantly. You know they aren’t really trying to bust steroids either.
He deserves to be in the HOF more than ever.
Like I heard on the radio, “…you can’t tell the story of baseball, without Barry Bonds.”
And no disrespect to Jeff Kent at all, I loved watching him play, and I’m glad he got in the HOF, he deserves it, but you could tell the story of baseball without Jeff Kent. I don’t think it would skip a beat.
Show proof of a positive test or put him in the HOF.
20 comments
GOAT
He was a massive POS when he was a player (although he’s way more humble and down to earth now), and ofc he cheated the game. But the same applies to several members of the Hall of Fame, including recent inductees. Regardless of what you think about him, you can’t tell the story of baseball without saying Barry Bonds’ name, and he deserves a spot in Cooperstown.
Best hitter ever.
Don’t care. Hank Aaron admitted to amphetamine use and people love him. Additionally, nobody seems to care about the number of pitchers that have conveniently had Adderall prescriptions over the last decade.
Same as I always did, he’s the goat, also was a deeply flawed person, seems to have figured it all out now and is happy. My view of the HOF has been on a steady decline for a decade at this point and I just simply don’t care about it anymore. It’s the hall of fame not the hall of was nice to the media. I understand convictions and all that but at this point most of the voters are just salty cry baby’s that never played the sport.
Greatest hitter in all of baseball and it’s not even close.
I never bought a ticket to a baseball game to watch a player with a ‘great personality’, or ‘all around wonderful guy’.
I like to watch competitive players give 100% effort to WIN.
If that makes me a POS, I’m OK with that.
I liked Pete Rose too.
Greatest hitter ever. Wish he wasn’t a roider.
He’s the greatest player, especially hitter that I’ve ever watched live in my lifetime.
goat
What’s been most interesting to me is conversations I’ve had about Barry with my kid, who is too young to have seen him play and who is a massive, *massive* baseball fan.
Like yes, he cheated. 100% he took PEDs, he did it because he knew it’d help him play better and for longer. He did it in a way designed to keep him from getting caught doing it. That gave him an advantage, no matter what the morons who called into Sportsphone back in the day said.
You look at that from the perspective of a 9 year old and it’s pretty open and shut, right? So it’s been interesting talking through with her about how the players were basically encouraged to use these substances after the strike, how the owners and league turned a blind eye until they needed somebody to blame, how Bonds was an easy target for that sort of scapegoating because of his talent combined with how he treated other people.
Also led to interesting places discussing other eras in baseball, like “would Babe Ruth still be considered the greatest if he’d had to face guys like Cool Papa Bell”, dead ball vs. live ball and how it changes the way you need to understand records, etc.
Easily the best hitter I’ve ever seen, and likely the greatest ever. It’s an absolute joke to see some of these steroid era guys getting into the hall while the best to ever do it sits on the sideline. It doesn’t protect the Hall, it strips the Hall of its legitimacy.
He belongs in the Hall, period.
1a/1b GOAT along with Mays.
Strava goat here in Marin. I hear he’s a beast off-roading too.
Oh and yeah no question best ever at hitting baseballs. Hard to compare eras, and pitching has gotten better since he retired, but the competition he was up against was fiercer than Willie or Babe and he broke the game like no one else ever has.
His walk totals with a hall of famer hitting behind him speak volumes about what the league thought of him.
The man was incredible. Even his outs were thrilling.
We added ops to our fantasy league rules because we wanted him to be at least a first rounder.
I’ve become more critical of cheating and PED use over time so I can’t say I’m super excited about him anymore, but I also think it’s deeply hypocritical that he’s been left out of the HoF while other cheaters and enablers have been inducted. They should either all be removed (including Bud Selig), or Bonds should be in.
No doubt best of all time. Had a lot of growing up to do.
Steroids have no impact on my view of him. People are crazy if they think everyone wasn’t roided up then and honestly is say most probably are now. Steroids are so common in every day life now. Kids in the gym are ob testosterone now. These guys have their livelihood depending on their performance and they are so easy to cycle and mask that everyone is on something.
Sports cover up gambling constantly. You know they aren’t really trying to bust steroids either.
He deserves to be in the HOF more than ever.
Like I heard on the radio, “…you can’t tell the story of baseball, without Barry Bonds.”
And no disrespect to Jeff Kent at all, I loved watching him play, and I’m glad he got in the HOF, he deserves it, but you could tell the story of baseball without Jeff Kent. I don’t think it would skip a beat.
Show proof of a positive test or put him in the HOF.
The HOF is a joke without him.