Baseball - Bonds: Rose And McGwire Belong In Hall O

According to Barry Bonds, Peter Rose and Mark McGwire should be in the Hall of Fame. Cal Ripken Jr and Tony Gwynn were elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writer’s Association of America. McGwire, on the other hand, was denied entry. McGwire ranks seventh on the career list with 583 home runs. However, his image was blemished when two years ago, he stonewalled Congress while being accused of steroid use.

Bonds congratulated Cal Ripken Jr and Tony Gwynn on their induction into the Hall of Fame but still felt that Rose and McGwire should have also been inducted into the Hall. McGwire received 23.5 percent of the votes. This showed that the voters made a decision against a player who was suspected of using steroids. Steroids got banned in baseball after the 2002 season. The voters will have to make a similar decision when it comes to Bonds, who is under investigation by a federal grand jury on perjury. The jury is trying to find out whether Bonds perjured himself when he testified in 2003 that he had not knowingly taken performance enhancing drugs. This was in connection with the BALCO steroid distribution case. Rose was given a lifetime ban in 1989 for betting on baseball. He has constantly denied this allegation. Rose is a careers hits leader but has never been inducted into the Hall. However, this year he received four write ups. Bonds has refused to discuss the negotiation that is going on with Giants over his contract nor did he want to talk about testing positive for amphetamines in 2006. Bonds hit .270 with 26 home runs and 77 RBIs for San Francisco last season.