Why Barry Bonds Should Get In The Hall Of Fame

Jack Seurkamp
Mrs. Perry
English 10 CP
20 January 2023
Why The Greatest Deserves Greater

If you were the most outstanding player in your sport, wouldn’t you want to be recognized for your talents? Barry Bonds has been retired from Major League Baseball for 15 years, yet, the Hall of Fame has not recognized him for his exceptional skills and many awards, the reason why he has stayed out of Cooperstown for so long is that he was caught using performance-enhancing drugs, making him stronger and fitter to play the game. Regardless of whether or not he used steroids, Barry Bonds deserves to be in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, because of how great of a player he indeed was, and how much he accomplished in the game. Barry Bonds was

a Bleacher Report article, written in 2012, titled, “Why Barry Bonds Should Get in the Hall of Fame in First Year of Eligibility”, written by Christopher Benvie, states, “Bonds also added seven National League Most Valuable Player awards to his resume. On top of that feat, he was the runner-up for the award twice, finished in the top five three more times, and was in the top 12 two more times. For the record, that equates to seven MVP awards with an additional seven times being considered highly for the award.” The closest player to Bond’s record of MVPs is Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, with three, less than half of what Bond’s had won. Along with the MVPs, Bonds was awarded in many other senses, “The Best Reason Why Barry Bonds Should Be in Baseball’s Hall of Fame”, written by Josh Koehn of the San Francisco states “In total, he made 14 All-Star appearances, won eight Gold Gloves and was named MVP of the National League seven times”. Along with his astonishing hitting, Bonds was recognized as the best player at his position for 14 seasons and the best fielder for 8 of those

According to Micheal Rosenberg of Sports Illustrated, he states, “His performance did not need enhancing— and when he started enhancing it, baseball had a “nothing to see here” approach to PEDs. And yet: Many players believed steroid use was cheating, even without rules prohibiting it”. This quote proves that even though Bonds used steroids, he shouldn’t be punished for said actions by the league. Along with being technically legal in the MLB, Bond’s steroid use was also legal under federal law, as stated by Micheal Rosenburg once again, “the drugs Bonds took were so ahead-of-the-curve that he never had a confirmed positive test for steroids. In fact, BALCO’s drugs were legal under federal law”. This disproves the argument that Bonds was cheating illegally because, in both instances, Bond’s never did anything wrong or illegal. In closing, Barry Bonds deserves to be awarded the honor of being in the Baseball Hall of Fame, because of his astounding accomplishments, records, and awards won during his career. Although Bonds began enhancing his abilities with steroids around halfway through his career, his accomplishments should still be recognized as valid because of the legality of the steroids.