The Hall of Fame chances of former Giants left fielder Barry Bonds are growing. According to Hall of Fame ballot tracker Ryan Thibodaux, Bonds has been voted in by 70.3 percent of the 107 ballots that have made public for induction into Cooperstown in 2017.
To compare, Bonds received 44 percent of support last year. The jump from 45.5 to 70.3 percent is the highest amongst anyone on the ballot, though the number is expected to dwindle when the 400-plus ballots are revealed in January. To be enshrined in the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame, a player needs 75 percent support from voters, something that Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports predicts is going to happen for Bonds in the next couple years.
The change seems to be due in large part to the voting in of Bud Selig, the commissioner during the steroid era, by a 16-member committee last month. Many believe that Selig was fully aware of baseball’s steroid issue during his time in charge, but turned a blind eye as ratings soared along with home-run totals.
A number of prominent baseball writers have spoken out in recent days about the hypocrisy of Selig being voted in, while still blackballing players accused of taking performance enhancing drugs.
“When Bud was put in two weeks ago, my mindset changed,” Kevin Cooney, a longtime Philadelphia-area writer, told Yahoo Sports. “If the commissioner of the steroid era was put into the HOF by a secret committee, then I couldn’t in good faith keep those two out any longer.”
When it comes to Bonds’ accomplishments on the field, there is really no debate that he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Bonds is the all-time home run leader, a record seven-time MVP and and a 14-time All-Star. Bonds was first accused of using performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, and was indicted by a grand jury in 2007 for perjury and obstruction of justice after authorities claimed he lied under oath about taking steroids. Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice but later had the conviction overturned in 2015.
Though widely accepted, Bonds’ use of performance enhancing drugs has never been proven.