Barry Bonds Doesn’t Care He’s Not In The Hall Of Fame

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Despite 762 career homers, a cloud remains over MLB home run leader Barry Bonds, a cloud that may bar him from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Bonds was shutout from the HOF again this week. It was first time since 2013 no player was selected to be placed in the hallowed halls of Cooperstown, New York.

Bonds now has one more shot to get in. If he is not voted in next year, he will always be on the outside looking in.

He won’t be down about it, though. The 56-year-old Bonds says that he’s not concerned about getting into the Hall, and that these days, he’s more worried about giving back, doing things like handing out meals for families in San Bruno, California than he is about the Hall of Fame.

“I don’t ever hear about it unless someone tells me,” Bonds told reporters while at Second Harvest.

“I really don’t. I don’t track it. I don’t do any of that. All I do right now is live my life day to day. And right now, I want to do something very special for people that are in need, and that’s the most important thing.

“I’m not that important. This is way more important than the Hall of Fame right now.”

Though he fell short in the voting, he did see a tremendous increase in voter support. This year, Bonds got his name on 61.8% of ballots, the most he’s ever earned.

The problem is he still very shy of the 75% required for induction, and one more year probably isn’t enough time to sway voters to change their minds.

Bonds was a seven-time MVP, 14-time All-Star and 12-time Silver Slugger who leads MLB in all-time homers (762) and walks (2,558).

He isn’t the only big name entering his final year of eligibility on the ballot. Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, and Sammy Sosa will also struggle to reach the Hall.

Schilling has already come out and stated he wants his name off the ballot next year.

Barry BondsSan Francisco Giants

Written by Matt Loede

Matt has been a part of the Cleveland Sports landscape working in the media since 1994 when he graduated from broadcasting school. His coverage beats include the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Cavaliers. He's written three books, and won the "2020 AP Sports Stringer Lifetime Service Award."

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  2. why would he? 35 year olds like myself know he is the best baseball player we will ever see. He’s filthy rich and seems to be enjoying life. Good for him. Dude has a great life and had a great baseball life. Hope he enjoys his retirement.

  3. I’m thinking that Bonds, McGuire, Schilling, Sosa, Rose, and countless others need to flip off the BB writers Hall of Fame. It has become a joke with so much politics involved.
    Let’s start an OutKick BB Hall of Fame. Build it in Nashville.
    Come on Clay you know “If you build it, they will come”

  4. Good for him. The Baseball Writers Association are mostly comprised of a bunch of leftwing liberals who are more concerned with their personal feelings towards an athlete rather than the players statistics.

    If Curt Schilling would have been a Biden supporter, he would have been in the HOF already.

  5. I used to have regard for the HOF. I don’t anymore. If they can keep Schilling out because he makes “sports journalists” cry, then it is not worth a warm bucket of spit. Baseball fans, and players, can value those who played. I have visited Cooperstown a few times. Never again.

  6. That’s good, because I don’t care about Barry Bonds anymore. When I was younger, following MLB with Junior and Barry Bonds playing, I always said Barry was the better ballplayer than Junior. Defended him amongst all the Junior fans (and there were a lot of them). Then, Barry changed. Body got bigger. Head/face deformed. Produced unreal stats. A man who’s godfather is Willie Mays decided to take shortcuts.

  7. Bonds is the only hitter I have ever seen who overpowered great pitching. It didn’t matter who faced him between 2000 and 2004, that was the single most absurd stretch of dominance by a hitter in mlb history. Pitchers pitched defensively when he stepped in the box. All of them. If they didn’t, he would do serious damage. It didn’t matter how hard you threw or how nasty, he was going to hit the ball very very very hard if you left it anywhere over the plate. Quickest bat ever. He also had the best eye ever. You rarely got him to chase anything out of the zone. He didn’t swing at bad pitches, and he didn’t miss good ones. Best hitter ever to me, hands down. Couldn’t stand him personality wise, but can’t argue how great he was.

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