MLB: Why I would vote Bonds and Clemens into the Baseball Hall of Fame

This past Wednesday the Baseball Hall of Fame would end up welcoming Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez as its newest members. However, two players who were major players in the Steroid Era in Major League Baseball once again did not get the amount of votes needed to get in to the Hall. The two names that I am talking about are Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who did cheat at the sport, but do happen to own some of the biggest records in baseball. I am here to say that we will more than likely see both Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens get their names called by Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson within the next few years.

[Jon]

First, I would like to explain why, if I were allowed to vote for players for the Hall of Fame in baseball, I would vote for Barry Bonds. Let us first look at his stats prior to the 2001 season when he hit the 73 home runs. Next, he was around 490 homers and had three most valuable player awards prior to when he was suspected of juicing. Also he was a fourteen time All- Star player and won the MVP award seven times.

I am aware that he certainly took steroids, but the numbers that he produced are Hall of Fame worthy. Also, I am not sure if people are aware of this, but baseball is one of the only sports where several of the top offensive players are not in the Hall, like Bonds and Pete Rose. Unfortunately, my feeling is guys like Bonds won’t get into the Hall of Fame until we get a new crop of voters who are not of the old school mind set.

On the other hand, you have Roger Clemens. For starters, it is very rare to see any pitchers in baseball to have over three hundred wins and four thousand strikeouts. But there is more to Clemens’ career that would help him in my opinion. They include the fact that he won the AL Triple Crown for pitching in 1997 and 1998. He also was the American league strikeout leader on five different occasions prior to 2000. Also, I would like to mention how he had close to 200 wins before 1997. In addition, he already had three CY Young awards prior to the years when he was suspected of taking steroids.

I am aware that there will be people who will disagree with me on this and feel that neither of them should ever set foot in the Hall of Fame, but look at these guys in their overall career and tell me they aren’t Hall of Fame bound. They played for a combined 42 years and won 8 MVPS between the two of them ( Bonds won seven and Clemens won one). Also, when the day comes that Bonds and Clemens get the call to the Hall of Fame, I feel it will be the set up for Rose and “Shoeless “ Joe Jackson to get in as well.