Sodo Mojo’s Hall of Fame Ballot Series, Part 1

Votes 2 and 3: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens

Look, if you are screaming, “STEROIDS”, please shut up for a moment. Here are a few facts for you to ignore: Barry Bonds has more walks and home runs than any player in baseball history. He is also a member of the 500/500 club, the only player to hold that distinction. Bonds also won 8 OBP titles, had a career OPS of 1.051, 7 MVP’s and 8 Gold Gloves.

Did he take steroids? Probably. Can you prove it? Why does it matter. If taking steroids is all it took to be the best player of all time, why isn’t everybody doing it? Bonds is arguably the greatest player of all time. The steroid argument is a simple scapegoat to cover up the real reason many writers won’t vote for Bonds: the dude was an ass to the media.

Much like Bonds, Roger Clemens is one of the greatest player in MLB History. He won 7 Cy Young Awards, an MVP award, 8 ERA+ titles, 7 ERA titles, 4,672 strike outs, and 11 All-Star teams. Clemens posted a sub 3 ERA 12 times, and had over 200 strikeouts in 12 seasons.

The simple truth is, saying that these players weren’t good without steroids is flatly untrue. Both should have been enshrined long ago, and are finally starting to see traction in voting. It appears both player are destined for the Hall of Fame, but two of the greatest players ever should have been in on their first attempt.