Thanks to the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee, the question of whether or not Barry Bonds belongs in the Hall of Fame is once again open for debate. The writers made their opinion known during the traditional voting process, and this committee already voted down Bonds once. However, this jury of Bonds’ peers would do well to consider his pre-steroid career with the Pirates, which may justify enshrinement on its own.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that Bonds’ career became tainted when he reconnected with trainer Greg Anderson in 1998. At that point, the slugger had already won three MVP Awards, seven Gold Glove Awards, and as many Silver Sluggers.