The baseball Hall of Fame has a real issue on its hands.  How do they continue to honor the legends of the game, but deal with those players who were suspected of using performance enhancing drugs at the same time?  They have dealt with it so far by not dealing with it at all, and putting it in the hands of the Baseball Writers Association of America.  The writers have been doing their best, but they are beginning to look worse each and every year that they leave some of the best baseball players to ever play the game out of the hall.

First and foremost, I hate Barry Bonds.  To me, the guy is the games ultimate arrogant athlete, and I have always felt that he has a serious problem with race.  I also feel that he cheated to become the all-time home run leader.  With all of that aside, the guy was the greatest baseball player of my lifetime.  

It probably isn’t a surprise that Bonds became a MLB player.  Bonds’ father Bobby played in the majors, he is cousins with Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, and if that wasn’t enough, Bonds’ Godfather is the legendary Willie Mays.  He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round of the 1985 draft and debuted the following season in 1986.  In that first season he showed flashes of speed by stealing 36 bases and scoring 72 runs in just 113 games.  This was only good enough for sixth place in the Rookie of the Year voting, but it would only be the beginning.

He went on to have one of the most brilliant careers of anyone in the history of the game.  He is a member of a very exclusive 500-500 club, over 500 stolen bases and 500 home runs in a career, so exclusive he is the only member of the club.  He is also one of only four men in baseball to record 40 plus stolen bases and 40 plus home runs in one season, also known as the 40-40 club.  On top of those exclusive clubs he is a member of he is also a 14-time all-star, 8-time gold glover and a 7-time National League Most Valuable Player.  Those accolades alone make him HoF worthy, yet in his second year of eligibility he hasn’t received a large enough percentage of the votes to get in even if you combine both years.

Many blame the writers, I blame MLB, but none of that matters because the true question is does he belong.  While the numbers show that it is obvious that he should be in, the links to PEDs sway many to believe that he should be excluded from eligibility.

My problem with keeping suspected PED users out of the HoF is the key word, suspected.  The only player who is absolutely known that used steroids is Jose Canseco, who wrote a book openly admitting to using steroids while accusing others as well.  The only other players to be banned from the HoF are known to have broken the rules of MLB, most because of issues with gambling or fixing games.  These people were caught doing something illegal within the rules of baseball.  Meanwhile, Bonds trainer, Greg Anderson, was arrested under suspicion of supplying anabolic steroids to athletes.  There is no proof, though, that steroids were supplied to Bonds other than his own admission of using an oil and cream supplied by Anderson.

While it seems suspicious that Bonds used this oil and cream without knowing exactly what he was using, there is no proof that it wasn’t just what Bonds says it was, flaxseed oil and arthritis rubbing balm.  As suspicious as it seems, this is not like Pete Rose, another one of the greatest hitters in all of baseball, who was actually caught breaking the rules of baseball.  This is a case of a man being punished over suspicion.

So the true question here isn’t does Bonds belong, the true question is should suspicion keep someone out of the hall, even if it is glaringly obvious that they belong?  And if suspicion is enough to keep players out, despite their play on the field, what do we do with the players who are under that cloud of suspicion?  I honestly don’t know, because if suspicion is enough to keep players out of the HoF, then it's possible that no one from the 90's belongs in.