Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Why Barry, Not Big Mac Belongs

Barry Bonds hasn't retired, yet, but that doesn't mean he's not the elephant in the middle of the Hall of Fame controversy swirling around Mark McGwire.

If Bonds' name were on the ballot he would get my vote. McGwire would not (don't think his numbers are worthy, period).

Bonds, on the other hand, stands up, numbers-wise, even discounting what he accomplished in the steroid era.

My reasoning: when he looked like Derek Jeter, played like Jeter (doubles, triples, and more than the occasional big fly), he won three Mvps. So even prior to the suspected steroid years, he accomplished things some players already in the Hall did not.

Big Mac never had an Mvp season, not even in that magical summer of '98, suggesting an immensely impressive feat that was, none-the-less a singular one _ kind of like Roger Maris' summer of '61. That, too, was not considered enough to get Roger into the Hall.

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