AggieEP said:
I always like to enter this argument. Go to baseball reference and look up Bonds. He made a mockery of the game in his late 30s. At 39 years old, he walked 232 times and struck out 41 times over an entire season. His OBP was .609.
73 doesn't exist to me. Some of you act like, well if it happened it happened so deal with it. But the reality is that Lance Armstrong was stripped of his titles, so why can't we strip Bonds of his "titles" as well. 73 is clearly a tainted number and the existence of other cheaters in the game doesn't justify the world's best cheater to continue to have a spot in the record book.
Baseball has remained stubborn when it comes to Pete Rose, I have no idea why they don't take the same stance with Bonds and just ban him and vacate his numbers.
You can't do this because:
1) Bonds never, ever tested positive for anything nor received a suspension during a time when baseball was testing for such things. Blame baseball's governance for being so incompetent that they outlawed PEDs in 1991 but didn't start testing them until 2003.
2) Was part of the BALCO settlement where Greg Anderson, et al that did not require them to reveal the names of athletes who might have used banned drugs
3) Was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice, but only found guilty of obstruction of justice for giving an evasive answer to a question under oath. He was found guilty and got a whopping 30 days of house arrest and some community service, plus 2 years probation, and then got his conviction overturned in 2015.
I doubt there's a person alive who thinks Bonds did not use steroids and PEDs to break the record and turn into the most incredible offensive player since Babe Ruth, but since the game and the courts failed to actually prove it, you can't take it away from him. If you did, you would have to go heavy on the REDACTED pen and start marking through the stats of every suspected steroid user in baseball history.
Rose got wiped out from the HOF ballot because he clearly bet on baseball with documented evidence that he then lied about not existing for 15 years from 1989 to 2004. Plus, he went to actual prison on falsifying tax returns. His records are still in the books though. I think he should be reinstated because he was a legendary player, but I suspect baseball people think if he does get welcomed back, he'll be the same d*bag he's always been and they'll end up regretting it. If there's no proof he gambled during his playing days, he should make the HOF as a player.
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