73-year-old Astros manager Dusty Baker is still wondering how Barry Bonds is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Having been the skipper with the San Francisco Giants from 1993 through 2002, Baker says it makes no sense how David Ortiz got into Cooperstown as a first balloter but Bonds has been waiting over a decade just to get in -- claiming that media bias definitely plays a part in his continued exclusion.
“Same way Jeff Kent didn’t get in,” Baker told the outlet. “Same way Pete Rose doesn’t get in. Same way Roger Clemens doesn’t get in.
“The voters (supposedly) like guys of high character, guys with no marks or any suspicions about their reputation — or maybe it’s how you treated the media.”
Baker then adds that the voters are super biased towards the Yankees and the Red Sox since they are the two preeminent franchises in the majors.
“[MLB] is more partial to Boston and New York and the East Coast teams,” he said. “Whenever we go to the playoffs, we always have to see what New York or Boston is going to do before we can even determine what time we’re going to be on TV.”
That argument is certainly not the case for Roger Clemens who played with both teams but has failed to get in the hall due to PED usage. However, Ortiz tested positive in 2003 and denied the test, blaming it on "supplements."
“I know,” Baker said of Ortiz’s enshrinement despite the positive test. “And I love Papi. But if you dig deep enough, everybody has something suspicious or something that they aren’t crazy about everybody knowing."
“There was none better than Barry. When you talk about the best of that era, people always want you to admit this or that. Well, Mark McGwire admitted and he’s not in. He should be in, too.”
While it's hard to deny Bonds' greatness prior to PED use, fans and the voters will always remember a juiced-up Bonds during the early 2000s that was feared by pitchers and smashed 70 homers in one season, a record that many put an asterisk next to.
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