[bigboydan]

I guess the fans won't really care, because they all voted for it to have that asterisk on it.

Bonds is acting like a childish ego manic by even saying this. I mean if he's indeed innocent like he claims, then he can express his views once he or should I say "IF" he makes the HOF.

Bonds says he'll boycott Hall if record-setting ball has asterisk

NEW YORK -- Barry Bonds would boycott Cooperstown if the Hall of Fame displays his record-breaking home run ball with an asterisk.


That includes skipping his potential induction ceremony.

"I won't go. I won't be part of it," Bonds said in an interview with MSNBC that aired Thursday night. "You can call me, but I won't be there."

The ball Bonds hit for home run No. 756 this season will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Hall. Fashion designer Marc Ecko bought the ball in an online auction and set up a Web site for fans to vote on its fate. In late September, he announced fans voted to send the ball to Cooperstown with an asterisk.

Of course, the asterisk suggests Bonds' record is tainted by alleged steroid use. The slugger has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. Fans brought signs with asterisks to ballparks this season as he neared Hank Aaron's career home run mark.

Bonds has called Ecko "an idiot."

"I don't think you can put an asterisk in the game of baseball, and I don't think that the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk," Bonds said. "You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history. You can't do it. There's no such thing as an asterisk in baseball."

Hall of Fame vice president Jeff Idelson declined to comment Thursday night.

Hall president Dale Petroskey has said accepting the ball doesn't mean the museum endorses the viewpoint that Bonds used illegal substances. He said the museum would be "delighted" to have the ball.

"It's a historic piece of baseball history," Petroskey said in September.

So, if the Hall goes through with the asterisk display?

"I will never be in the Hall of Fame. Never," Bonds said. "Barry Bonds will not be there.

"That's my emotions now. That's how I feel now. When I decide to retire five years from now, we'll see where they are at that moment," he added. "We'll see where they are at that time, and maybe I'll reconsider. But it's their position and where their position will be will be the determination of what my decision will be at that time."

Giants general manager Brian Sabean reiterated Thursday that the team won't bring back Bonds next season. The seven-time NL MVP, who has spent 15 of his 22 major league seasons in San Francisco, was asked whether he will retire as a Giant.

"Yeah, it's my house. No matter what that's my house, no one's going to take that away, no one ever," Bonds answered. "No one's going to take the love of that city of me away, ever."

Bonds, who has 762 homers, broke Aaron's record with a shot into the right-center seats off Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik at San Francisco on Aug. 7.

Matt Murphy, a 21-year-old student and construction supervisor from New York, emerged from a scuffle holding the ball. He said he decided to sell it because he couldn't afford to pay the taxes required to keep it.

Bonds told MSNBC he hoped to reach 764 homers because he was born in July 1964. He said he's been working out and still is considering whether to play next season.

"I may hit two home runs so I can go home. I just think that I have a lot of game left. I think that I can help a team with a championship," Bonds said. "I'm a hell of a part-time player, too."

Bonds said he won't talk to George Mitchell's staff looking into steroids use in baseball while he is under investigation in the BALCO case. A grand jury has been investigating whether Bonds committed perjury when he testified he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.

"I know it ends in January, so a couple more months. But I haven't been keeping up with it. Not at all," Bonds said. "I have nothing to hide. I have said that before and I will say it now and I will look you in the face. I have nothing to hide, nothing. So look all you want to."

[tacomax]

Bonds is acting like a childish ego manic by even saying this. I mean if he's indeed innocent like he claims, then he can express his views once he or should I say "IF" he makes the HOF.

But you claim that OJ is innocent since he's not been found guilty. BB has not been found guilty either. Innocent until proven guilty.

[Willie Bee]

I guess the fans won't really care, because they all voted for it to have that asterisk on it.

Bonds is acting like a childish ego manic by even saying this. I mean if he's indeed innocent like he claims, then he can express his views once he or should I say "IF" he makes the HOF.

It was probably 30 kids living in their mom's basement who voted 10,000 times each to have an asterisk on the ball. The only people who really care about the ball or whether or not Bonds shows up at his induction ceremony are people without much of a life in my opinion, people who just can't get past this whole steroids issue and who have allowed the media to control their minds and have them sitting on pins and needles for the next story on the subject.

[jon13009]

I really could care less about Bonds or the steroid era because MLB is to blame for not taking a stance on the issue when it really mattered. Bonds deserves to be there since steroids were not banned at the time, and the ball should not be defaced on the opinions of a bunch of people who care little for the game anyway.

MLB and its fans should lighten up and induct Bonds, Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and Mark McGwire in a few years to initiate the gambling and steroids wing of the HOF.

I don't care what you think of Pete Rose, a baseball hall of fame without him is not worthy of much anyway.

Once Bonds is voted into the HOF, MLB can say goodbye to any sense of dignity or self righteousness it once held, and at that point the floodgates to the HOF should be opened to all worthy.

[curious]

I really could care less about Bonds or the steroid era because MLB is to blame for not taking a stance on the issue at the time. Bonds deserves to be there since steroids were not banned at the time, and the ball should not be defaced on the opinions of a bunch of people who cares little for the game anyway.

MLB and its fans should lighten up and induct Bonds, Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and Mark McGwire in a few years to initiate the gambling and steroids wing of the HOF.

I don't care what you think of Pete Rose, the hall of fame with out him is not worthy of much anyway.

I don't know much about the Pete Rose story. I think I heard him say that he bet on the Reds to win while he was a manager. What does that have to do with him being in the hall of fame as a player?

i think the hall of fame is not a hall of fame anymore. I think it is a hall of the "pretty good". A hall of fame should have very few players in it, the best of the best of the best. They have put so many players in there it doesn't mean anything any more.

[Samhain]

He won't get in on the first ballot anyway.

No Pete Rose, no Mark McGwire and no Barry Bonds.

[mshanedub420]

who cares, i think he thinks people care, only ESPN cared because they needed something to cover on tv for all that time. 9 of 10 people could give a rats ass
&& Pete Rose should be in and if i was a coach I would encourage my players to bet on themselves. I would make them all take player props to outhit, score and walk the other guy,,betting on yourself to lose is a different story and he didnt do that, its funny in MMA in Vegas they let fighters bet on themselves and a few actually did

[Wassymac]

I say good for you Barry. Taking Barry out of the hall and putting that ball in there is a good switch IMO.

[Willie Bee]

I don't know much about the Pete Rose story. I think I heard him say that he bet on the Reds to win while he was a manager. What does that have to do with him being in the hall of fame as a player?

i think the hall of fame is not a hall of fame anymore. I think it is a hall of the "pretty good". A hall of fame should have very few players in it, the best of the best of the best. They have put so many players in there it doesn't mean anything any more.

It was the games that Rose didn't bet on the Reds that caused the most problems. You know on those nights he was betting on the Reds to win that he would manage the game like it was Game 7 of a World Series. Games he didn't bet them was a clear signal that he might not have his full bullpen complement or was going to rest one of his key hitters.

The idea that the talent level in Cooperstown has been watered down over the years is very subjective. What bugs me most is when you have players such as Joe DiMaggio needing three ballots to get elected or when someone like Willie Mays, Ernie Banks and Tom Seaver aren't elected unanimously. What argument can be made to NOT vote for a player like Mays or Hank Aaron?

[bigboydan]

No Pete Rose, no Mark McGwire and no Barry Bonds.

Pete Rose will never be allowed to enter the HOF ever. Bart Giamonti basically said that before he died.

[5teamparlay]

http://www.rantsports.com/mlb/2012/1...e-deserves-it/


11-28-12

If Barry Bonds Doesn’t Get Into the Hall of Fame, Nobody Else Deserves It


2 hours ago


Kelley L. Cox – US PRESSWIRE
Cooperstown’s class of 2013 might be one of the most interesting Hall of Fame classes in the history of sports. The reason why the class is fascinating is due to the fact that a lot of baseball’s best players over the past twenty years are all on the ballot together, including players with a notorious PED past.
Outside of the players who have been on the ballot that haven’t been elected yet (Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, etc.), we have some very interesting first-timers such as: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and Mike Piazza. For the purpose of this article, however, I am only going to touch on one of the players up for nomination, and that person is Barry Lamar Bonds.
Barry Bonds was the best baseball player in my generation. While others may claim that is a matter of opinion, I feel that is a matter of fact. No one has put up the numbers Bonds has put up in his career – - steroids or not. Truthfully, I couldn’t care less about PED use in that era, and it’s completely ignorant to discredit some of the players when no one knows who actually used and who didn’t. Heck, Eric Gagne recently admitted that 70% of his Dodgers’ teammates used some sort of PED, so why must the best players get punished? Just because they were “caught”.
Although it’s pretty obvious Bonds cheated, it was never proven he actually did use steroids in his time with the San Francisco Giants. And even if he did, who cares? Bonds was a Hall of Fame player before his late-career spike.
Seriously people, just look at Bonds’ Baseball-Reference page and tell me he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame. From 2001-2004, Bonds’ OBP was .559. FIVE! FIFTY! NINE! His slugging percentage was over .800, meaning four out of every five times at the plate, a Bonds’ batted ball resulted in a base. Even if Bonds was a cyborg, that is simply ridiculous.
It also should be added that pitchers were not immune to PED use. Heck, Clemens is a perfect example of a pitcher who allegedly used. It’s not like Bonds wasn’t facing roided up pitchers as well.
I fully understand Bonds not making it on the first ballot, but keeping him out of Cooperstown entirely is erroneous. If the Hall of Fame is going to be this stingy about this era, they need to just open up a Steroid Era wing in their Hall of Fame. Don’t hide the fact this era existed in the game and acknowledge it. You can’t tell me that every player inducted into the Hall of Fame was clean, so why discredit all these players?
Barry Bonds did things we never knew were possible. That in itself proves he belongs in Cooperstown.


Read more at http://www.rantsports.com/mlb/2012/1...qRJHupB5tVR.99