Bonds to refuse HOF

Suntan Superman

WC's Resident Samoan

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

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."



ESPN.com



So do you want Bonds in the HOF

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Bonds is bigger then the hall of fame.

Zar333

Yeah, but that is the result of HGH

Jackies on Stone Cold:
"I think he's been drinking too much...You just don't get any better in the ring then Cena - yeah right. Moppy was better in the ring than Cena."

Freak

Repped.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

I don't care what you guys say. HGH doesn't turn you into the GREATEST HITTER OF ALL-TIME. Guys like Giambi, Sheffield, McGwire, Sosa, and on and on have all been proven as steroid users and none of them have ever approached Bonds' numbers..

Necro

VIP Room Moderator

I kind of agree with Bonds here. I mean shit if the hall wants to pretty much embarrass him by putting that ball in, why would he agree to do anything for them?

I dont like Bonds at all, but shit...

TVDinner

so you are saying that it is ok to cheat. that makes sense....

I will be 1 on December 25th. That's right, I am going to get screwed on presents!!!!!

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

When did I say it was ok to cheat? I didn't say anything close to that. I'm tired of people coming on here and disregarding everything he's done in his career because of HGH claims.. I'm not going to stop defending it..

Freak

I rarely get into this debate, since I'm not the biggest or most knowledgeable baseball fan, but my feeling is this:

I won't deny that Bonds is one of, if not the greatest hitter of all-time, and I ultimately respect his accomplishments up until (what I personally see as the time when) he began using performance-enhancing drugs. Even after that point, I'm not denying that he was unbelievably good -- I just think it's kind of (or really) lame that he used drugs to get there.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

That's fair Freak. My feeling on this issue is a few things..

- I believe Bonds was the best all-around player of the 90's without steroids.

- I believe Bonds was the best player of this decade while (most likely) on steroids.

- I believe a lot of factors go unacknowledged by most casual fans as to why Bonds' production went up. They point to steroids but do not include the watered down pitching and smaller ballparks.


Basically, I think with or without steroids Bonds is the greatest player any of us have ever seen and when the list is revealed in the coming weeks of other notable players who used illegal substances during this era (probably guys on your own teams) we can debate this fact further..