Barry Bonds, the all-time Major League Baseball leader in home runs, dropped off the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot after failing to be elected to Cooperstown over the course 10 years.
Bonds could still get into the Hall via the Contemporary Baseball Era committee but his links to performance-enhancing drugs during his career has seemed to hurt any possibility of him getting a plaque in the hallowed halls.
David Justice, a former All-Star outfielder who won World Series titles with the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees, endorsed Bonds for the Hall of Fame on Saturday.
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David Justice of the New York Yankees during the American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics on Oct, 10, 2001, in the Bronx. (Sporting News via Getty Images via Getty Images)
“They already let guys in already that have been – that have had tests done, that people know or have a pretty good circumstantial evidence that they’ve already let in,” he told TMZ Sports.
“Barry Bonds is the baddest dude of my generation. The baddest dude of my generation. Bar none. Bar none.”
Justice explained that the only place Bonds messed up was his relationship with the media. He said Bonds didn’t give the media “the love” they were expecting. Justice also said Pete Rose should be a Hall of Famer, “without a doubt.”
The seven-time National League MVP said last week he believes he should be in the Hall.
“People have to understand something is that the fact is that I was vindicated,” Bonds said on the first episode of BLeav’s “Hollywood Swingin'” with Stephen Bishop and Jerry Hairston Jr. “I went to the court. I was in federal court, and I won my case. One hundred percent. Where is the vindication of me in my own sport? That’s what bothers me.”
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants gets ready to bat against the Pirates at PNC Park on Aug. 13, 2007, in Pittsburgh. (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
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But after the legal talk, Bonds said his numbers speak for themselves, and the writers unfairly punished him and players who have been suspended in the sport.
“Major League Baseball, and let’s get this clearly and straight, hasn’t had a rule, and has rules, whether they were broken or not broken, there were rules, some rules,” Bonds continued. “My era, there was no rules. They changed the rules in 2003 or 2004, whenever the rules started to change, there was rules. There’s some people that were convicted of those rules during the case of those rules.
“Well, Major League Baseball said if you did X, you were suspended for X.… His numbers still are the same based on what he has accomplished that does not prevent him from the other part of getting into the Hall of Fame. It has nothing to do with it.… Major League Baseball already punished you for those stints. Why is the Hall of Fame punishing me? It doesn’t make sense. It makes zero sense that you’re being double punished for something that you’ve already been punished for.
“I belong with my teammates in that Hall of Fame. One hundred percent.”
Barry Bonds of the Pittsburgh Pirates during a game against the Giants on May 21, 1992, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
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In his final year on the ballot, Bonds received 66% of the vote from baseball writers. A player needs 75% for election.
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
