When Barry Bonds' pre-steroid era baseball career was rated Hall of Fame worthy by former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig

Barry Bonds has 762 home runs overall, the most ever. But his achievements and probable Hall of Fame induction have been cast in doubt due to the numerous linkages to steroids.

Former MLB commissioner Bud Selig once deemed Bonds’ pre-PED career to be worthy of Cooperstown enshrinement. Speaking highly of Bonds as a player, Selig in 2019 told Sports Illustrated:

“Barry was a great player. Let me make that very clear. A great player. He was a Hall of Famer long before he got associated with steroids. But like so many other players, some of them great players, he had made some really bad decisions—decisions that would shape their legacies while complicating mine.”

Bonds made his MLB debut in 1986 and was considered one of the greatest players of all time.

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Is Barry Bonds the rightful Home Run King?

Hank Aaron, who has 755 career home runs, is considered by many to be more deserving. Without the usage of anabolic steroids, he properly achieved his numbers.

THE MLB IGNORED STEROID USE TO PROFIT AND GROW THE SPORT LET BARRY BONDS IN THE HALL OF FAME – B.W. Carlin

Barry Bonds posted some of the best batting statistics ever recorded on a baseball diamond, whether or not he used steroids. For as long as baseball is played, his single-season career-high figures might never be surpassed. His single-season records for home runs, walks, batting averages, and RBIs are as follows: 73, 232, .370, and 73 (137).

The fact that Bonds’ name is all over the record book is the simplest defense against whether or not he belongs in the Hall of Fame. Despite what many purists claim, there is no asterisk since he did things that no one else will ever do again. He may have been the greatest baseball player ever, but according to his records, he isn't in the Hall of Fame.

Barry Bonds at Division Series - Los Angeles Dodgers v San Francisco Giants - Game One

For allegedly lying to a grand jury during the federal government's investigation of BALCO, a producer of undetectable steroids, Bonds was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in 2007. Bonds was found guilty of obstructing justice in 2011 after the perjury charges were dismissed, but the judgment was reversed in 2015.