Bonds should not make Hall of Fame on his final ballot
There are people who regard Barry Bonds as baseball’s greatest player. Not just of his era or his generation. They regard him as the finest player who ever picked up a bat or thrust his hand inside a glove.
I won’t go quite that far. On my list he would be third behind Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, but the people who place him at the top can make compelling arguments to support their belief.
Bonds holds the record for the most home runs in a season (73) and the most in a career (762). Pitchers feared him so much that in one season he drew 252 walks, which was more than one-third his total plate appearances. Not only was that a record but the second and third highest single-season walk totals also belong to Bonds.
Moreover, he was probably the best defensive left fielder in history. During his era the Gold Glove award honored three outfielders annually in each league. Typically center fielders took at least two of the trophies each season and left fielders were generally ignored, but that didn’t happen when Bonds played. He received eight Gold Gloves in his career, all as a left fielder.
These numbers are breath-taking but they didn’t happen simultaneously. Bonds won five of his eight Gold Gloves before turning 30. He hit 503 of his 762 homers after turning 30. He collected 1,236 of his 1,947 RBIs after turning 30. He seemed to be two different ball players. Not only did his game change in mid-career, so did his body. The difference was palpable.
During the first half of his career he looked like a 400-meter hurdler. During the second half he looked like a hammer thrower. He became significantly heavier and much of the added weight was muscle. He went from being one of the fastest players in the game to being one of the slowest. But, at the same time, he packed power that no one had ever seen before.
He was capable of hitting any ball in the strike zone out of any park. With his marvelous eyesight he seldom swung at a pitch that wasn’t in the strike zone. With that combination of skill and muscle he rewrote the game’s home run records even as he passed the age when most athletes go into a sharp decline.
Nevertheless, his first nine attempts to gain entry into baseball’s Hall of Fame were met with rejection. His 10th and final try will occur this year. Voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America are casting their ballots and the results will be revealed next month.
Most of the voters, no doubt, suspect that all that extra muscle came from doing something more than pumping iron and eating spinach. Most suspect he indulged in performance enhancing drugs and they aren’t the only ones. The federal government tried to build a case against the man they believed to be his supplier. The effort failed, possibly because one important witness elected to spend time in jail rather than testify in court.
Perhaps because of that no one has ever proven that Bonds used steroids or any other PED, but given the facts it is difficult to conclude otherwise. At least enough of us felt that way to deny Bonds the 75 percent of the vote that is required for induction into the Hall of Fame.
I say “us” because for the first seven times Bonds’ name appeared on the ballot I was among the voters who refused to vote for him. At the time I was among the majority. Then the Hall of Fame decided that I am no longer fit to be part of its electorate and refused to send me a ballot. I’m not the only one they purged. In an unprecedented action, dozens of senior writers who no longer file daily stories from major league press boxes were purged from the voting polls. I emphasize, that’s something that was never done to any of my predecessors.
Just as I don’t believe Bonds’ muscular frame happened by coincidence, neither do I believe the timing of the Hall’s action was coincidence either. I suspect the Hall of Fame is very anxious to hang Bonds’ plaque alongside those of the other greats enshrined in Cooperstown, N.Y. and realized that wouldn’t happen as long as us old-timers were voting “no” every year.
Without as many people like me acting as a deterrent, Bonds’ numbers have increased annually. So far he has not reached the necessary 75 percent needed for induction but last year he secured nearly 62 percent. Two hundred forty out of 401 voters supported his induction and all but one of them also voted for pitcher Roger Clemens. Like Bonds, Clemens has undeniable Hall of Fame credentials (354 lifetime victories and seven Cy Young Awards) but is deeply suspected of having used banned products,
Bonds and Clemens are on the ballot for the final time this year. One would assume they will either both be elected or both be denied. If I were still voting I would continue to vote no.
I would also refuse to vote for Alex Rodriguez, who is on the ballot for the first time. Rodriguez is another player with clear Hall of Fame numbers (696 home runs, 2,086 RBIs) but late in his career he was suspended for a full season for flagrant PED use. Keeping him off my ballot would be an easy decision. With two other players, Andy Pettitte and David Ortiz, the decision would be more difficult.
Pettitte admits to using steroids one time. He says he did it to hasten his recovery when rehabilitating from an injury. If that’s the case (and I know of no evidence that suggests that it isn’t) I think he used horrible judgment. However, I also believe one mistake is not in the same category as serial PED use. That said, I believe Pettitte’s Cooperstown credentials are borderline. Jim Kaat and Tommy John, to name two, posted better numbers and were not enshrined. However, I voted for both of them year after year so this year’s non-ballot will include Pettitte.
Ortiz, who is on the ballot for the first time, failed a drug test in 2003. That test was administered by Major League Baseball, which promised to publish only numbers — no names — from the test and not use it to mete out discipline. Afterwards someone leaked the names of a few prominent Dominican players who were among dozens who had failed the test and Ortiz’s name was one of the ones leaked.
If MLB had kept its promise we would not
know he had ever failed the test. What we do know is the current commissioner, Rob Manfred, has stated that the 2003 test was not conclusive and as many as 15 percent of the positives might have been caused by errors in the testing. He thinks that test result should not be the basis for denying a Hall of Fame vote and, for once, I agree with Rob Manfred. Ortiz gets my non-vote.
So do two veteran holdovers. Curt Schilling and Omar Vizquel both received my vote when it was real and they do today when it is only mythical.
Ryan Howard, Mark Teixeira and Jimmy Rollins were not on the ballot when I voted. They’re all part of an amazing class of firstyear candidates and all deserve serious consideration.
Howard’s first six seasons were breath-taking. He won a Rookie of the Year Award, a Most Valuable Player Award and finished among the top 10 in MVP voting each of the next five years. He twice led the majors in home runs and led in RBIs three times. These are overwhelmingly Hall of Fame numbers, but are six great years enough to enshrine a player? At the end of the 2011 season, Howard suffered
a serious ankle injury and was never the same player thereafter.
Teixeira, like Howard, was a first baseman but his tenure at or near the top of his profession was much longer. He won five Gold Gloves and reached 100 RBIs eight times. When he retired he had 408 homers and 1298 RBIs, and those totals are higher than Howard’s.
Rollins wasn’t a prototype leadoff hitter as his .264 career average indicates. But he still managed to steal 470 bases and scored 100 or more runs six times. He won four Gold Gloves — I think that’s very significant for a shortstop — and one MVP award.
I’ll be surprised if any of them are elected in their first year of eligibility, but they all get my nod.
To sum up, here’s one very real old-timer’s nonreal Hall of Fame ballot. In alphabetical order: Ryan Howard, David Ortiz, Andy Pettitte, Jimmy Rollins, Curt Schilling, Mark Teixeira and Omar Vizquel.