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‘He Should Have Been on the First Vote’- When ESPN’s Max Kellerman Made a Passionate Plea for Controversial PED Slugger Barry Bonds’ Case for the MLB Hall of Fame

Published 07/29/2022, 8:00 AM EDT

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Whether Barry Bonds gets into the MLB Hall of Fame or not, he will remain one of the greatest ever to play the sport. A 14-time All-Star and seven-time league MVP winner, Barry Bonds, was a monster from the plate. Having played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants, Bonds gave his all for both teams.

However, despite being so successful from the plate, Bonds’ baseball career will remain controversial. The reason? Although Bonds never accepted taking PEDs (Performance-enhancing drugs) during his playing days, MLB found him guilty for the same. And this whole PED saga probably ruined his legacy in Major League Baseball.

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As earlier mentioned, Bonds was a monster from the plate, but without a Hall of Fame induction, his legendary yet controversial career will remain incomplete. Talking about the same, ESPN analysts Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman once discussed whether Bonds should get into the Hall of Fame or not.

Should Barry Bonds get into the Hall of Fame?

The 2022 Hall of Fame ballot was the last opportunity for Barry Bonds to get the honor from MLB. But the Giants legend did not get the HOF in the last year of his eligibility. Instead, the Boston Red Sox legend, David Ortiz, got inducted into the HOF.

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While discussing the same topic, Max Kellerman of ESPN weighed his opinions. Despite agreeing that Bonds used PEDs in his playing days, Kellerman came up with a plethora of data to prove why Bonds deserves to be in the HOF.

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“Barry Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame. He should have been on the first vote in spite of the PEDs… Barry Bonds was clearly one of the four greatest left-fielders of all time before he ever started juicing…” 

“He led the league in slugging percentage three times, and on-base percentage four times before he ever started anything. So he should have been in the Hall of Fame,” Kellerman said in 2020.

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Is it fair to compare Bonds with Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron?

He also compared Bonds with MLB legends like Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron and said that Bonds bested both.

“Hank Aaron still held the all-time (homer run record). Babe Ruth was the last guy who had the single-season home run record at 60 and the all-time home run record at 714. Then Maris got the single season and Hank Aaron got the all-time. Barry Bonds was the first dude to unify the titles again,” added Kellerman.

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What do you think? Should Barry Bonds get into the Hall of Fame or not?

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Written by:

Abhishek Kumar

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Abhishek Kumar is an MLB author at EssentiallySports. After completing his Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, Abhishek has been working in the media industry since two years. Before joining EssentiallySports, he previously worked at APN News as a sub-editor, where he has written articles on sports and politics.
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Edited by:

Simar Singh Wadhwa