The Football Fan Spot

There is no denying it. Barry Bonds took steroids. Tests and documents from Bonds' perjury case have confirmed what many have believed for years to be true. The all-time Homerun King took steroids and the record is tainted. However, Barry Bonds still belongs in Cooperstown. 

According to reports from the book "Game of Shadows," which have likely been confirmed by the tests that have surfaced over the past few days, Bonds took steroids starting after the 1998 season. Going into the 1999 season, Bonds had 411 homeruns, 1216 RBIs, 445 stolen bases, and 1927 hits. If you ignore every possible tainted stat, meaning everything he did after 1998, and just say he retired after 1998, he still is a Hall of Famer. 

I don't care if you put him into Cooperstown with those stats, saying he retired after 1998. If don't care if you put him into Cooperstown with an asterisk next to every single one of his stats saying that he took steroids. I don't care. But, he belongs in, based off of everything he did before the ‘roids. This is a guy with tremendous baseball talent. He messed up, likely feel into peer pressure trying to keep up with the McGwires and Sosas of the world who were overshadowing him at the time, but based off of his baseball ability and his pre-steroids production, which included 3 MVP awards, and 7 gold gloves, and 8 all-star appearances, he belongs in. 

I don't think you need to worry about Bonds being a convicted felon in Cooperstown, though I would still want him in even if he is convicted of perjury. Bonds said he never knowingly took steroids. It’s kind of obvious right now that he took them. However, how can anyone prove legally that he did know? He probably did know and he probably did lie, but legally that can not be proven unless someone finds a lost tape of him injecting himself with steroids saying, "these are steroids." 

Even with everything that I have said about Bonds deserving to be a Hall of Famer, as far as I am considered, Hank Aaron is still the all-time Homerun King. 

With the revelation this morning that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were on steroids, we are reminded of the depth of the lying and the cheating in the steroid era. We may never know exactly who was juiced and who was not, the following ten players make up my list of the top ten Hall of Fame caliber players, who played in the steroid era, who were most likely clean (don't pay too much attention to the order).

10. SS Derek Jeter 

I may not like him because he’s a Yankee, but I highly doubt he juiced. He is not a power hitter for one thing. He’s merely a contact hitter who always seems to flash the power when his team needs it most, or at least he did in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He’s a high character guy and the steroids would have hurt his speed and his ability in the field. Both of those things have left him now, but he had speed and a great glove right in the middle of the steroid era. Plus, his 6-3 195 frame doesn’t scream steroids at all.

9. SP Tom Glavine 

He’s another high character guy, but also he was never a power pitcher. He was a lefty who made his name as with his pinpoint location and his pitch’s movement. His frame also does not look like someone who was a juicer. He’s just a hard working every day who happens to be able to locate a pitch in any location.

8. SP Randy Johnson 

Forget his character and hard working attitude, but this guy is not very big. Yes, he’s tall and he has a monster fastball that could reach 97, but he’s very skinny at 6-10 215. The speed of his fastball was all in his delivery and his height. Think of him as a much taller Tim Lincecum. Plus, if he were on steroids and then stopped suddenly, his velocity would have gone down. Not even age slowed down his fastball. He was throwing 90+ at 45 this year even after a number of back surgeries.

7. RF Ken Griffey Jr. 

His stats might say juicer, but his injury history made it impossible. He simply would not have gotten hurt anywhere near as much if were on steroids. Plus, steroids would have killed his speed and Griffey stole 184 career bases, plus he had great speed in the outfield which would have been sapped if he had juiced. Griffey is a clean member of the 600 homerun club, unlike Bonds and Sosa.

6. SP Curt Schilling 

This isn’t to say that he didn’t have great velocity in the peak of his career, but he is outspoken against steroids and an all around high character guy. I would be really surprised if he juiced and very disappointed.

5. LF Rickey Henderson 

He didn’t have great power, though he could launch one of the park from time to time. Plus, steroids would have sapped his speed to the point where 1400+ career steals would have been almost impossible. He was also 5-10 180 so if he was juicing, it was clearly the wrong thing.

4. SP Jamie Moyer 

This guy is a borderline Hall of Famer not because he had a good fastball. His fastball was in the mid 80s. It wasn’t even because he had good stuff, its because he has the uncanny ability to be average or above average for every season for what seems like forever. He was equally good at 25, 35, and 45 so if ever used steroids, he would have had to use it for his whole career or he would have had a drop off. He’s also only 180 pounds, so there’s that too.

3. RP Trevor Hoffman 

Not only is his fastball not overpowering, he barely uses it. This guy is the all-time save leader because of his changeup, which is good because of the grip and he knows how to throw it. Steroids won’t help you throw a changeup.

2. SP Greg Maddux 

He doesn’t have a lot of velocity. He succeeded in his career because of his command and movement, plus he was not very big.

1. 2B Craig Biggio 

Let me just name a bunch of reasons why he didn’t juice, he’s 5-11 185, he only hit 291 career homeruns, he stole 414 career bases, he was swift in the field, he looked like he was 22 for his whole career, just to name a few.

And two players who didn't make this list only because they played in the steroid era* at the very end of their career 
SS Cal Ripken Jr. 
RF Tony Gwynn 

And two players who didn't make this list only because they played in the steroid era* at the very beginning of their career 
1B Albert Pujols 
RF Ichiro Suzuki