It’s fair to say that Willie McCovey loves German chocolate cake on his birthday, which happens to be Wednesday, just as much as he disagrees with those who believe Barry Bonds does not belong in the Hall of Fame. McCovey told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle last month that “it’s a sin he’s not there.” The now 80-year-old Hall of Famer continued to fight for Bonds while making an appearance on Murph and Mac Wednesday morning.
“I think they’re using this PED thing as an excuse for people who don’t like him,” McCovey said. “And there were a lot of people who didn’t like Barry and they’re using that as an excuse.”
In McCovey’s opinion, Bonds’ allegations of using steroids during his career are enough to overshadow his seven MVPs, 14 All-Star nominations, two batting titles and all-time 762 home runs.
When asked by Brian Murphy how Bonds compared to other baseball greats, specifically Ted Williams and Stan Musial, McCovey simply said, “Barry is the best.”
“It’s hard to say what makes one guy better than another guy,” McCovey said. “Barry hit left-handers as good as he hit right-handers. There was no pitcher I saw that gave him problems. I don’t care how good of a hitter you are, there’s always some pitcher that gives you problems. Barry, I don’t know of any pitcher that gave him problems.”
This year, Bonds received a 53.8 percent vote in his sixth year on the ballot. With four years left of eligibility, there’s no telling whether McCovey’s dream of seeing his friend enshrined along with him in the Hall of Fame will become reality.
“I think everybody knows he should be in there,” McCovey said. “It’s a no-brainer really, when you think about what he did and how good of a hitter he was or how good of a player he was. Period.”
To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and skip to 6:00 for McCovey on Bonds.