The numbers aren’t even really my point of contention, because to me they’re irrelevant. I’m not arguing that Bonds wasn’t a great player. I said that he had first ballot HOF numbers before he even started using PEDs, so please step down off your soapbox. This is such a contrived argument on your part.

A couple other things…

You keep on bringing up the O’s as if he was linked to the team, or there was some sort of anti-Bonds petition to keep him out of Baltimore.

I have heard many, many people in the media (especially sports talk radio) absolutely BLAST McGwire, especially after his lame grand jury testimony… “I’m not here to talk about the past”.

Bonds is generally hated and WAS (no one cares about him anymore) slightly over vilified by the media. That being said, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a baseball guy (media, player, educated fan) that would say he shouldn’t be in the Hall. The reason he was SLIGHTLY over vilified is, because unlike Giambi and McGwire, Bonds broke one of the most revered records in all of sports. Baseball, more than any other sport, values stats and Bonds (with the help of PEDs) passed Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.

I am not even fired up because I know I am right. It is safe to say Bonds wasn’t using P.E.D’s in 2007 when he was a washed up 43 year old. He had a .480 OBP and a .565 SLG %. Not one Oriole was even CLOSE to a .400 OBP this year. Also, if you reread the blog I flat out said that I DID NOT use ANY of his numbers after 1999 and I am not justifying ANY of his steroid inflated numbers. I simply used the mean average of his production between 1986-99 to come up with my final projections. The “decline” that you are talking about is a joke. Bonds was so good you couldn’t even throw him a strike! How could you possibly think steroids alone made him that good? Everybody else was using steroids and nobody was even close to the player Bonds was between 2000-2004. Instead of being superhuman and the best player in the league by far, he would have been the best player in baseball by a smaller margin. If anything, I thought my projections were very conservative. To say that between 2000-2004 his numbers would have declined relative to his pre-steroid numbers is patently ludicrous. Here is what Bonds hit his first four years in the league: .223, .261, .283, .and .248. These numbers were factored into my formula and weighed down his averages considerably. Many baseball players are like fine wines and gain the plate discipline and become better hitters in their late 30′s. Bonds was undergoing a transition from being a five tool beast to a quintessential power hitter. That is why I said if you want to argue his stolen bases would have declined…that is fair. Bonds was a superior athlete and even without steroids at 36-40 years old was just as athletic as any 20 year old. I did not project his numbers to be better than his pre-steroid days—but it is a very safe assumption they would have been in-line. Also, he was walked over a 1,000 times between 2000-2007. That is over two full seasons of at bats that were taken away from him because he was so dominant! Without steroids and being so incredible, he would have gained an additional 500+ at bats. You could argue he would have been in decline after 2006, but not before. Teams may have stayed away from him because he was no longer worth the PR hassle…but if Bonds came out of retirement today after not playing baseball for two years at 45 years old…I guarantee he would be the best power hitter in the Oriole line-up. I would put the deed to my house on it. Lastly, I don’t want ANYONE to love him. I just want him to be treated (at worst) like every other player in the steroid era. I may have overstated the “love” for McGwire…but I can’t remember reading one article by a major media outlet that singled him out and put a negative spin on the guy.

2. Bonds wasn’t blacklisted from baseball. His talent (at this point) isn’t greater than his downside (negative pub/poor defense). Believe me if teams thought Bonds could make a significant impact he would be playing in the MLB.

3. How can you say that his last seven years would have been just as good as his first 14? In 2000 he was 36 years old and without the help of PEDs he would have seen a significant decline in his numbers just like every normal human being. PEDs extended his career and enhanced his numbers. I don’t think you can justify the seven years of steroid enhanced numbers by saying that his first three years were pedestrian.

4. NO ONE is arguing that Bonds’ pre-steroid numbers (’86-’99) don’t merit him a spot in Cooperstown. Bonds will be in the Hall soon enough and that’s fine, because he deserves it, but outside of that no one owes him anything. What do you want, people to love him? It’s not happening, because he’s an asshole plan and simple. You can’t tell people that they can’t hate him is simply because he’s one of all time greats.