Barry Bonds is still bothered by his exclusion from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bonds is the career home run leader (762), walks leader (2,558) and intentional walks leader (688) in MLB. He won seven MVP awards, two batting titles and made 14 All-Star teams. His resume is sparkling, except for one big thing: performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds took steroids and human growth hormone during his career, which was against MLB rules, but the league did not have a mandatory drug-testing program while he played. Bonds said he took the substances unknowingly.
The Hall of Fame has a character clause that has served as grounds to exclude players who were caught cheating, which is why he and Roger Clemens, among others, have not made it into Cooperstown.
During an appearance on the first episode of Jerry Hairston Jr.’s new podcast “Hollywood Swingin’,” Bonds said the exclusion still bothers him.
“Yeah, does it bother you,” Bonds said on the podcast, via the New York Post. “Sure. I’m human, I’m not some wall sitting up here [who] doesn’t care. Sure, it bothers you. But at the same time, I also know who I am. And the thing is that people have to understand … I was vindicated. I went to the court, I was in federal court, and I won my case, 100 percent. Where is the vindication of me in my own sport? That’s what bothers me.”
Bonds arguing that he was vindicated is unrelated to the reason for his exclusion. He was vindicated because he was found to not have knowingly taken the illegal substances. Even though he said he did not know he was using illegal substances, he still used them, which is why he has been kept out of the Hall of Fame.
Bonds also won an appeal for a case where he was tried federally for obstruction of justice.
“I appealed that charge, and I won. I’m not under federal, I’m not a criminal of any kind, I’m not anything,” Bonds said. “[My] Major League Baseball records are still there, and I try to tell everybody this … I don’t care if they want to judge athletes on performance enhancing drugs or not, it doesn’t matter. Major League Baseball, and let’s get this clearly and straight, had a rule and has rules, OK? Whether they were broken or not broken, there were rules, some rules. My era, there was no rules.”
Bonds was able to avoid the convictions for perjury in large part because his former trainer and friend Greg Anderson refused to testify against the slugger. Anderson spent multiple stints in prison on grounds of contempt for refusing to testify.
There are many voters and fans who still feel that accomplished players like Bonds, Clemens and, perhaps, Alex Rodriguez deserve their spot in the Hall of Fame despite being caught cheating. But enough people feel otherwise, which has kept them out.
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