Hank Aaron wanted Barry Bonds in Cooperstown, but writers didn’t follow suit

Baseball legend Hank Aaron thought Barry Bonds belonged in the Hall of Fame, but the writers disagreed, respectfully.

Bonds was denied entry to Cooperstown for the tenth consecutive year. This was his last opportunity to be voted in by the BBWAA.

The *Home Run King can still receive such an honor, should he be voted in by one of the various committees tasked with doing so after players are denied entry from a decade of voting. The first opportunity will be via the ‘Today’s Game Committee’, which will meet in December to add players to the Class of 2023.

Bonds was overlooked by writers primarily due to his connections to performance-enhancing drugs and steroids. Baseball’s all-time leading home run hitter was named in the Mitchell Report and the Balco scandal. He was tried for perjury, though those charges were eventually overturned in 2015.

Hank Aaron: Barry Bonds deserves a spot in Cooperstown

Award-winning journalist Terence Moore hadn’t voted for Bonds in any of his previous nine attempts at enshrinement in Cooperstown. But on his tenth and final try, Moore relented, thanking Aaron for the inspiration.

“You can blame my graciousness toward Bonds facing his 10th and final attempt to reach Cooperstown through voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Hank Aaron, the eternally benevolent soul for 86 years on earth and baseball’s greatest player ever,” Moore wrote.

Moore is set to publish a book on Aaron as of May 17, titled “The Real Hank Aaron: An Intimate Look at the Life and Legacy of the Home Run King.”

Per Moore, Aaron didn’t particularly like Bonds, as he had ‘a bunch of issues with Bonds’, though he did believe him to be a Hall-of-Fame worthy player.

That was enough for Moore, and it ought to have been enough for the rest of baseball. Instead, Bonds’ legacy — and future among the game’s greats — remains a mystery.