Barry Bonds Should Be in the Baseball Hall of Fame | The Bill Simmons Podcast 

It's like Bill Burr said regarding Lance Armstrong, "Our roided up guy beat your roided up guy!" Pretty much anyone notable was using steroids during that time yet only Bonds pulled out those absurd stats.

Baseball is grossly hypocritical. Turning a blind eye and taking advantage of those players to usher in the most popular period of the last 1/2 century, but then turning around and acting pious when it comes time to celebrate them.

Mose Schrute is very knowledgeable of baseball

If known juicer David Ortiz can get in, Barry Bonds should 100% be in

I was in high school during the steroid era, and let me just say... Baseball was so much fucking fun. It was probably the most important sport in America, and it was incredible

In my lifetime I can not think of another athlete that the media love to hate more than Barry Bonds. I was born in 82 and have lived in Bradenton FL most of my life. I say that to let you know that the Pittsburgh Pirates have had spring training here ever since I can remember. I've personally met Mr. BONDS a number of times growing up when he was with the Pirates and he was never this person the media portrays as a selfish asshole. They mostly hate him because he would call reporters on their Bullshit. The way they all admired what Bonds was doing at the time and then just completely forget to mention him now a days is absolutely garbage. Bonds being treated this way is why I no longer care to watch the sport. It's not the only reason but it's the main one. I know I'm just 1 person and in the grand scheme of things it means nothing. Barry Bonds is the greatest baseball player to ever live in my opinion. You can not tell the story of baseball without Bonds being mentioned That's the whole point of the Hall of Fame. It tells the story of baseball. Barry Bonds is the greatest hitter that I've ever seen in my lifetime. Juice or No Juice to be able to hit the ball the way he could, when he only would see about 1 pitch every 2 games to hit and he put that pitch in the stands was something we will never see again.

Mark McGwire is undoubtedly going to begin any ceremony by saying he isn’t here to talk about the past knowing full well a museum is literally about the past. Lol.

Come on fellas! We’re gonna pretend poppi didn’t weigh 110 lbs when he played for Minnesota?😂 but the media flooded us with before and after pictures of bonds head?

So Manny was juicing, but his Dominican brothers on the team, Pedro and Ortiz, were not? GTHOH

So, if Ortiz used anything before 2004, its fine for him, but not for anyone else. Even though steroids were banned by MLB in 1991 (steroids were declared illegal by the US in 1990). But they assume Bonds used in 03, 04, and 05 even though testing began in 2003? The "weird New York Times thing" was an article which had names of "big" players who tested positive for steroids when testing began in 2003. Those investigating BALCO seized the MLB testing results from the company that did the testing, which were never destroyed/deleted. Those "big names" who tested positive were Ortiz, Manny, ARod, and Sosa. Since investigators were looking specifically for those players who tested positive for PEDs/steroids (to possibly tie them to BALCO), its widely accepted thats what those players tested positive for. Sheffield admitted to using "cream" way back when the investigation into BALCO began, which he used on his legs to lessen the appearance of scars from surgery. The Mitchell Report is discredited because players were named by Radomski, charged with drug dealing and other crimes, who's plea deal was tied to cooperation with the investigation, so the more players he named the better it was for him. (he ended up not even going to jail if I remember right) Also the report didn't mention any Red Sox, even though Ortiz and Manny were known users by then.

Why would they say taking steroids is the biggest mistake they ever made? They became millionaires many times over because of it . Didn't have to give the money back, no jail, etc. Mlb is all in on it too.

Bonds might be the greatest baseball player who ever lived lol

"We aren't being homers on Ortiz". Sorry Bill, you aren't allowed to judge yourself. And yes, you are being a HOMER.

Why do people try to equate character flaws like being a racist or an alcoholic to actually cheating the game? These aren't apples to apples comparisons

Bonds has a rare brady argument as well. He had essentially 2 separate hall of fame careers. One where he was like the evil Ken Griffen junior doppelganger that could do whatever he wanted on a field (incredible fielder, base runner, hit for power/average)and a another where he was the most feared offensive player in a team sport ever and a sabermetrics event horizon. The point is there is a line of delineation around 2000 and bonds is one of the greatest ever at that point. Unfortunately for barry the writers wanted a reason to keep young barry old and old barry gave them a reason. I feel like Clemmons, an American hero, is collateral damage since he's the randy moss to bond's TO.

My suggestion: Add a wing to the HOF, honoring the great players of "The Enhanced Era," along with detailed explanations of the turmoil that this era caused. To ignore it, and them, does the sport a great injustice.

The greatest baseball player I ever saw play and he played for a team I despise (I’m a Dbacks fan being from Arizona) Barry has been done dirty after all he did for this game

The pace of baseball feels way slower than it used to, and frankly it’s gotten boring compared to the juiced era, I say let them perfect themselves as athletes and do everything in there power to recover and get better. The only sport that shouldn’t juice imo is combat sports

100% No way Ortiz didn’t do it but never proven but look at his career trajectory.

The curse of modern baseball and the MLB as a whole is the fact that they refuse to acknowledge the scandals of the PED usage among players rather than accept that it was a part of their history and move on from it. Even as regular sports fans, we can't change the history of the sport or the franchises that play said sport. We can wish it all we want but what has happened has happened. The best course from there is to just move forward and to be better going into the future, rather than have the past hang over us and have it define everything that we aren't. Barry Bonds, even with all his merits and demerits on and off the field, is a HoFer. It should have never been a debate from the start. Yes the PED's made him a far better hitter than what he normally would have been but you can't deny the impact that it had on the sport. People can argue that by putting Bonds in the HoF is basically rewarding him for PED usage but guess what, that's a narrow minded view of one aspect in a decorated baseball career. I can guarantee that anyone as a kid growing up and watching Barry Bonds at bat, you were waiting to see if he would just rip another home run and cheering like crazy when he did or being disappointed when he didn't. I don't and will never condone PED usage in any sport but you have to put into context of what was going on during the times that Bonds was playing because he wasn't the only one abusing PEDs (Does Jason Giambi ring a bell for people?) Put Bonds in the HoF but as Bill likes to do with NBA championships, put an asterisk on Bonds. Just my 2 cents.

Bonds was 1st ballot before San Francisco

Don't forget my favorite pitcher, Roger Clemens. I've never seen a pitcher who is his equal. Same with Mr. Bonds, of course.

The double standard of this America way is ridiculous

PED use should be assessed as a negative, not a disqualifier. Like Bad defense or if they slept with their teammate's wives. Treat them as if they were 10-20% worse. Bonds, A-Rod still make it, Sosa doesn't. The Mitchell report should not be used as evidence. It is fundamentally unfair, an abuse of the players' good faith attempts to help the league fix the problem, and completely unscientific and without rigor or standards. It is far worse than rumors. Holding the Mitchell report against anyone is a travesty. It is like locking someone up without trial based on evidence obtained illegally and analyzed in a filthy broken lab. In the last audio segment (not on YT) Bill and his dad repeatedly mention Belichick wanting to break Halas' record. Shula holds the wins records not Halas. (Regular season wins and total wins.) BB is 38 behind Shula in regular season wins and 26 in total wins. Belichick is only 3 behind Halas for total wins and is 28 behind him for regular season wins (2nd place).

Ok, so for all of the people who say “just put it on their plaque” or “put them in another section” like the players is gonna be ok with it lmao. “Yea, I’m in?!!, what’s that? They wanna call me a cheater? Yea that’s fine, I’m in!!!” Lmao. Their bats and balls and historical moments, the things that you say they are known for, are all in the hall already. The HOF is an honor, do we want to honor cheaters? That’s the real question. If you do fine, if you don’t fine, but let’s stop this baseball story bs. And all those other racists in and all that, white people voting on white people, no surprise

The hof isn’t just a museum tho fellaz its an honor

If Bonds gets in so does McGuire, Palmiero, Clemens, Sammy & Alex

If Pudge got in .... everyone from that ERA should be in with HOF numbers...all of them.

Bonds is one of, if not THE, only must watch players in baseball history. No 2 players combined have ever been as exciting as Bonds was by himself. Bonds is bigger than the Hall of Fame

This was excellent and MLB should consider your proposals...Bonds was gifted with the talent genes of his Dad, Bobby, and if Barry had retired the year before the home run mania hit baseball, he would have been a first ballot HOF selection...I always go back to the "greenies" amphetamines Jim Bouton shares in his great book, Ball Four. (Former JUCO All-American and 2nd round pick..."bust"} LOL!

Sports writers just continue to prove they shouldn't be in charge of the legacy of baseball.

No he shouldn't nor McGwire or any juicers. Juicing up at the time, 10 more feet is the difference between a homerun and an out at times. I asked Jim Rice some 25 years ago and he told me, I was a big guy, pretty strong but I could have hit the gym and weights everyday and not got as strong as these guys are getting help in other ways. I thought that was a solid answer.

Freddie lindstrom and ray schalk being in there but not bonds is absolutely absurd and McGuire and Sosa saved the game. I remember baseball in 95 and it was bad

I've enjoyed Bill Simmons' content for many years, and him always doubling down, putting on blinders, and being a total homer about anything related to Boston never fails to make me laugh.

Rickey Henderson & Barry Bonds are the greatest players of all time. Bonds is the only player in MLB history 500/500 club & the only one to win multiple MVPSs & Gold Gloves with two different teams.

Curt Schilling should definitely be in

Everyone’s like your right cap Hanson 😂

Obviously Bonds should be in, there is no point to have a Hall of Fame without Barry Bonds. Not that it matters much, baseball is dying out anyway.

So, Rose belongs then as well.

I do love the you don’t get in until your dead part lol

The issue I have with this whole steroids issue the MLB has with its past is that ppl try to act like steroids wasn’t GOOD for baseball when that was probably the best era of baseball there ever was like just let him slide man this shit is just sad to see

Only greatest ever allowed in the hall of Fame. Other than the guy with the most hits and the guy with the most home runs. SMH

The stupidest thing that the hall is doing is filling up the hall with guys who don’t belong just to spite the greats they don’t like! You can’t tell me none of the players in the late 90’s early 2000’s weren’t all on PED’s, if you didn’t do them knowing everyone else is doing them and you are going to lose money by not doing them then you would have been a moron not to take the stuff to make as much money as you could. What pisses me off even more is that Bud Selig is in the hall of fame and he knew everything was going on under his watch! 🤦‍♂️

Mike Schur is awesome. He was absolutely on point with the Pete Rose take. We can all agree he should be in but the Hall has way bigger issues to deal with first.

Definitely. There’s zero question that many steroid users are already in, and given that his competition at the time was just as roided up, he was the best of the era. He’ll always have that stain on his legacy, but he deserves to be in the HOF, although it’s not happening.

Whoa there...I thought Ty Cobb was exonerated already 🧐

I agree all these guys belong in the HOF but people lose me when they say "there was no MLB rule". Steroids have been illegal Federally since 1991. So if a player's car breaks down on the way to the park and he steals a car he can say "baseball doesn't have a rule about it"?

On the argument that it wasn’t in the rules, then how come no one will admit it? How come no one was open about it during their playing days?

“Now we sound like apologists.” No kidding.

I'm a red Sox but A-Rod is a great baseball analyst lol. Jeter giving half of Hollywood herpes is worse than Barry Bonds n A-Rod doing steroids. Also they should put Pete Rose In the HOF

If only Shoeless got the same treatment

A few years before his death Ken Caminiti admitted that at least half the players were on some form of PED’s. Because There Were No Rules!

Interesting take here. I haven’t heard this one. Bonds was already punished so he should not be punished again by the HOF

Do any Houston Astros players make it in?

Dan Shaughnessy is yelling and waiving his fist in the air somewhere.

I'm really intrigued to see what happens in the next 50 years when the record books start being taken over by people who's first language isn't English because I wonder how the American media will treat them... I'm not just talking about guys from DR or PR or Cuba but also from Japan, Korea, etc.

If you were objective on Ortiz, you would steel man the counter argument, not just lay out your best narrative in his defense. This is intellectual dishonesty and confirmation bias at it's finest.

That’s like the NBA keeping Michael Jordan out of the Hall of Fame because he may or may not have gambled on the sport. And may or may not have been secretly suspended by David Stern for a year and a half for doing so. There’s no undeniable proof even if it’s obvious to a blind man (in Bonds Case). Bonds and Clemens were obviously two of the greatest ever at their respective positions in baseball. Then again, maybe this is the price they had to pay for cheating in a sport that they were already among the best at with or without steroids.

Yes you are being homers lol. Still all love tho

How Great were they before the juice?

The HOF should tell the truth, good and bad, about players and eras. When a great player takes PEDs, his stats will be even more amazing, but when a marginal player takes them so that he can recover faster and pitch effectively for two innings every few days, we hardly notice. It's not news. Either mark each guy's HOF display with an asterisk, or install a room with specific information about each era, the whole sordid truth told fairly and accurately. Part of the problem with Bonds is that writers didn't like him, and he didn't treat them with much respect.

"There were no rules. It wasn't against the rules." IT WAS AGAINST THE LAW!!!

What falls deaf in so many of these conversations about this topic is Bonds and Clemens cheated playing the game.... We can dissect their off the field morality all day long and yeah, many hof guys were bad people, but bonds and Clemens aren't in the hall because they cheated while on the field. Their gargantuan stats aren't real. They're manufactured from cheating. They shamed the game of baseball. Soooo we let them in the baseball hall of fame? That's insane. I keep seeing these articles/podcasts etc that the hall of fame is broken... Yet if I walked my sons through the hall of fame and had to explain the plack next to Jackie Robinson is from a guy who cheated playing baseball it would really diminish what the hall stands for.

They could have a cheaters room where Bonds and Rose and Shoeless Joe can go. It'd be amazing.

Well there's 2 Giants on any real MLB Mt. Rushmore so I guess I'm good for now

Peter Edward Rose !! And everyone else can get in line behind him !!

I'd start testing whoever left these heros my heros that are my childhood memories out my generation of baseball gets left out because of idiots that write about stuff who says the others did use or didn't who really knows Noone!!! I can see if they were selling it as street drugs and living in drug houses come on people get real😂😂😂 I guess let's leave out history all together professional wrestling yea they never take it noo😂😂😂

Great points.....except for the rampant homerism. Ortiz deserves the Hall, but come on, at least admit it

Is this the guy from the Office?

The rule was there going back to 1990 but no one enforced it

the same fact that was twisted and people ran with it is applied to the Astros. Eveyone running with bullshit narratives

It is my opinion if a player can not do what is great on the field without enhancements then they should not go in the HOF. I believe this as it would taint what people would view as great. As far as the players that are in with bias personalities, personalities are not what make a great player. In some cases it helps, but it doesn't change what they did on the field. Whereas enhancements the same can not be said. Would Barry Bonds hit all those HRs without them? I seriously doubt it. I think if he had not done them and simply hit 400 HRs and had 200 plus SBs he would have went in. Somewhere in his mind he felt he needed them to be viewed as a great hitter, which is not true. He was great hitter prior to, but because he did them I would not let him in either.

I don't understand the argument that Bonds should be in but Pete Rose shouldn't. Pete Rose not being in, in my opinion is the biggest crime in baseball. Especially now when everyone and their mother gambles.

Before he was using ped bonds still would have hall of fame numbers lol

Shoeless Joe before any of these slugs

You can't bet on the sport you play. This isn't a tough call. It will ruin the sport.

If Bud Selig is in the Hall..??🧐

For the ppl we hurt 🤕...??? They should be sorry giving us great baseball??? Wow 😣.

Since Ortiz got in, so should everyone!!

oh no he shouldn't. the argument that they weren't being tested for when he started using them doesn't change the fact he used a PED to play the game. what did hank use? strong cup of coffee? probably not even that.

Juicing is way worse than betting on games...lol...if they won't even consider letting Pete Rose in, why are we even trying to justify letting juicers in?

You can't let cheaters in at all. Where would you draw the line? Some say Bonds would have been in anyway, but how would you know? There's a good chance he was juicing some since the early 90s , and just kicked it up a notch later when he wanted to make a mockery of the HR record. Either way, he knew it was wrong, and the HoF has to keep a solid standard when it comes to cheating, or it loses all meaning.

Great to see Mike Shur on

Yeah he should be in. If you take like about 200 juiced up HRS away from him.Then he'd be behind like 15 players in career HRS.. Not Cool? Then add like 200 HRS to guys who didn't use steroids for the last 7 or 8 years of their careers. Imagine how many HRS guys like Willie, Hank, and Babe would have hit if they wanted to cheat, and steroids were invented back then? They'd be in the freakin' 900s in lifetime Homers. Fair is fair. There should be two Halls..One for regular players. And one for juiced up players. frankny65yroldwhitekid rockfan.....and baseball fan

Bonds got what he deserves, plus Sammy, McGuire, and several pitchers too. We want to forget him and all the other cheats who betrayed the fans, using enhancing steroids to make records they NEVER would have reached otherwise. Just compare stats vs age and productivity to prove it. That's why the cheaters deserve a National Steroid Hall of Fame! And for those who might ask I Love The Yankees madly. I attended for instance opening Day where Reggie hit his fourth home run in 4 pitches, counting the 77 world series. I was one of the idiots who threw Reggie Bars on the field to celebrate seeing a true HOF'r do his thing.

Sammy a hof naturally?

Manny was great from the beginning Ortiz, Sammy not quite

Roger Maris and Maury Wills are Not IN the hall of fame! WTAF???

This is the problem if the writers like you they will ignore everything and put you in like pudge Rodriguez writers love him but it is obvious he juiced but guys writers hate they will hold the line and never let them in because they don’t like them.

I care about Cap Anson, the Babe, Ty Cobb and the pitcher who ran off the mound to chase a fire truck out on the street. Baseball has been going downhill since 1939. Put Shoeless Joe in!

What did Ty Cobb do??

McGuire would not go there to talk about the past….

Haha, wow. So biased. At least they admit it. Come on, the David Ortiz talk is amateurish. Step it up. I expect more from you Simmons

Nah if you let ortiz in you gotta let bonds uncle

Griffey Jr was my hero 🧢

Bonds should be in. Ruth played in segregated baseball

Ok, but Kurt Schilling can be left out, right?

Ok put em in the museum not the HOF

2 homers defending Ortiz smh. Such a joke

I have always said, you are either a Hall of Famer or you're not. I don't like the waiting period, baseball has royally screwed it up over and over. Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod, Sosa, Manny, Curt Schilling all deserve to be in.