Ten long years after their names first appeared on the National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are no longer eligible to be voted into Cooperstown by the BBWAA. Two of the greatest players the sport has ever seen have seemingly been barred from the Hall and it is creating quite the controversy. Numerous media members, players, and fans took to Twitter to share their opinions, which of course differed, but I think that’s the great part about this whole story. The media is putting their own opinions out there and are not afraid to let the writers hear them and we need more of that.
Roger Clemens pitching for the Red Sox
The vast majority of tweets I’ve seen from some of the biggest names in baseball media such as Jeff Passan, Jared Carrabis, Pitching Ninja, Danny Vietti, and many more, have all been expressing disgust with the writers’ decision to not vote Bonds and Clemens into Cooperstown. Even athletes from other sports like Karl-Anthony Towns, Paige Spiranac, Deion Sanders, Julian Edelman, and Jamal Crawford let everyone know they also think the two legends should be in the Hall of Fame. I personally think both Bonds and Clemens deserve to be alongside all the other legends in Cooperstown. They are two of the greatest players the game has ever seen, steroids or no steroids. The incredible feats they set may never be reached again and the memories they created surely cannot be replicated.
The Hall has one job: to tell the story of the sport.
And nobody is a bigger part of that story than Barry Lamar Bonds. https://t.co/tyXYFR6TlP
(via @JeffPassan) pic.twitter.com/6MSxs5zxEA
— ESPN (@espn) January 25, 2022
What I think the media can learn from this is it’s okay to have these differing opinions and be passionate about them. They’re called opinions for a reason and they create great talking points for debates amongst friends or even professionals. Readers should also be open minded. I love stories that get me thinking and questioning previous beliefs through learning new facts or seeing a topic in a different light. So read an article even if your opinion differs! It may change your mind or at least help you to better understand why someone feels the way they do about the subject at hand. One story on this hall of fame topic I thought was an interesting read was Doug Glanville’s article on why Barry Bonds shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame. It gave me perspective on what someone who played against Bonds saw and how they felt during the steroid era.
Bonds and Clemens will now have to wait to see if the Today’s Game Committee decides to vote them in at some point.
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