Barry Bonds failed to make the Baseball Hall of Fame, after finishing his last voting process with 66 percent of the ballots.
He has been heavily linked with steroid use since the late nineties, and that’s what kept him from Cooperstown (at least so far).
There are three stats from his MLB career, however, that say he belongs in the Hall.
3. 73 Home Runs
Bonds was a marvelous hitter, the best of our generation without any question.
His power was legendary: he showed it before and after he allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs.
Everybody thought we wouldn’t see a Babe Ruth-like season in the 21st century, then Bonds showed up in 2001 and broke all modern standards.
That year, he hit a whopping 73 home runs, a record that still stands.
The pitch Barry Bonds hit for number 73 in 2001 may be the biggest meatball I’ve ever seen in my life. Biggest shock is that thing not going 600 feet
pic.twitter.com/HgRx83nmre— mayor of section 509 (@BovHahn) June 27, 2020
Mark McGwire had broken Roger Maris’ record of 61 in a single season just three years earlier, in 1998, but Bonds was just too much for pitchers to handle.
MLB has made changes to the ball in recent seasons, but watching a player breaking Bonds’ record of 73 dingers in one campaign seems unlikely.
The Hall of Fame should definitely have a place for the person with the most home runs in a single season, especially if we consider that the rest of his career numbers look excellent.
2. 762-514: Homers And Steals
In the history of the game, no one has been able to hit as many round-trippers as Bonds.
He knocked 762 balls out of the park over the course of his 22-year MLB tenure: that’s 34.63 per season, which is unbelievable.
Lots of players wish they hit 34 homers in a single season, and that’s Bonds’ per season average.
The record for most home runs in all time is awfully impressive, but the fact that only 33 players have more stolen bases than him is what makes him unique.
Barry Bonds, by 1999, was the only player in baseball history with at least 400 homers, 400 stolen bases and a 400+ OBP.
He remains the only one today.
His career totals: 762 homers, 514 stolen bases and a .444 on-base percentage. https://t.co/DmqWvnOkDp— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 25, 2022
Bonds, especially in the early part of his career, was a perennial 30-30 threat, and was a 40-40 player in 1996 with the Giants.
He stole 25 bases in 1998, and that’s when the decline in stolen bases began.
But he was already 33 years old and expecting him to continue running well into his thirties was always far-fetched.
Even still, Bonds was the epitome of the “power-speed” combo that makes scouts drool, both back in the day and currently.
1. 7 MVP awards
One of the parameters for Hall of Fame worthiness is how many individual accolades a player won.
After all, players who were at the elite of the league for a long time are the ones who deserve a place in Cooperstown.
MVP awards are a perfect way to measure individual dominance.
Do you dare to guess who is the player in the history of MLB with the most MVP awards?
Hint: it starts with a “B” and ends with “onds”.
The Giants slugger won seven MVP awards over the course of his career.
The second-best on that front?
A bunch of players with three: Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Stan Musial, Joe DiMaggio, and Jimmie Foxx.
For seven different seasons, Bonds was named as the best player in his league, or at least the most valuable.
That’s the stat voters needed to consider the most.
NEXT: 3 Stats That Should Make Roger Clemens A Hall Of Famer