Barry Bonds is a first ballot Hall of Famer, period. I want to state that opinion up front in the off chance that Barry happens to read this blog in between jacking balls 475 feet. I got your back, dude. Now how about an autographed bat? Please?Seriously though, in the midst of all the accusations flying around about The Man, I'd like to hear just one that is worthy of jerking his HOF ticket. I KNOW you're not dumb enough to try the steroid angle. I mean, the guy has never (that's right NEVER) popped a positive in his career. And even if he does pop positive, that doesn't negate any of his seven (that's right SEVEN) MVP years, just his current performance.
Why not? Good question. First, because the ball itself is juiced. Tests have proven that the average baseball used by MLB started getting harder in the late 80's. Thus, more homeruns. And no one gets banned from baseball. Second, the parks are juiced. The current rage for band box stadiums began in the late nineties, and guess what? Small park = More homeruns. And no one gets banned from baseball. Third, the pitches are juiced. If, as the scions of this Salemesque venture are so quick to point out, steroids are uniquitous in baseball, then a significant number of the pitches that hitters see are chemically enhanced. Faster pitches travel farther when hit. Thus, more home-runs. And yet I don't see any rush to analyze the career stats of hitters who jacked one off of juiced pitchers? Hmm... Fifth, expansion of the game. The addition of the Rockies (whose altitude presents another potential asterisk for stat freaks), the Marlins, the Devil Rays, and the Diamondbacks diluted the quality of pitching more than hitting, thus producing what? Duh, more homeruns. Although it was expected that pitching would eventually catch up with hitting, it never really happened. The homerun totals just kept rising and rising and rising.
And to you naysayers who still don't believe in Bonds, let me ask you, if a juiced batter hits one out off a juiced pitcher, are they still playing baseball? Is it still a home run? Should that home run count less? The fact is that players take steroids in order to gain an advantage on their opponents, but their opponents have equal access to steroids. Illegal, yes, but FAIR. And fairness is what the competition committee is really concerned about.
Regardless of the safety factors involved in taking steroids (and we all know that its a Stupid thing to do), what MLB is concerned about, ultimately, is the integrity of the game. Do steroids threaten that integrity? Not really. If the United States government would legalize them, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Steroid use is a legal issue, not a baseball issue. Barry is right. So, shut up and vote him in... He's earned it.
