Barry Bonds compiled numerous accolades over the course of his decorated 22-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He still stands as Major League Baseball’s home run king with 762 career home runs, and he holds single-season records for most home runs (73), bases on balls (232), on-base percentage (.609) and slugging percentage (.863). Yet, induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame has proven to be elusive.
Nearly two decades after his retirement, Bonds has become well-known for his athletic endeavors in another sport: cycling. Since picking up the sport in 2010, Bonds has shared the details of his rides around San Francisco on Strava, a fitness tracking app on which he’s logged more than 2,100 rides.
Although he didn’t start cycle until his mid-40s, Bonds has proven to be just as dominant on a cycle as he was in the batter’s box. The 60-year-old holds the record for the fastest time on several stretches of road, according to SF Gate. At age 53, he covered a 0.27-mile stretch in 31 seconds, the fastest time out of more than 22,000 cyclists. He also posted the fastest time ever on a 0.65-mile stretch at 59 years old, covering it in just 69 seconds.
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Hall of Fame or not, Barry Bonds continues to dazzle as an athlete
The cycling hobby only further proves what has been evident all along: Bonds is an athletic marvel who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
The 14-time All-Star’s legacy was tarnished by an anabolic steroids scandal, but barring him from the Hall of Fame has been misguided and contradictory. In the final year of Bonds’ 10-year eligibility window, former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was inducted into the Hall of Fame despite facing his own allegations of using performance-enhancing drugs. Ortiz lobbied for Bonds after the announcement of his induction.
“I know there are a lot of things going on, but to me, the guy was a Hall of Famer way before everything, all the talk, all the things,” Ortiz told reporters, via the Mercury News. “This is a guy who played the game at a whole different level.”
Bonds was a polarizing player, and the steroids scandal late in his career only fueled any negative perception. MLB rules regarding performance enhancing drugs were lenient in the 1990s, and strict punishments weren’t implemented until 2005, two years before Bonds retired. Yet, in his 10th and final appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2022, Bonds only received votes from 66 percent of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America electorate. That mark fell short of the 75 percent threshold required for induction.
The Contemporary Player Committee also chose not to elect Bonds in 2022, but perhaps it’s time to reconsider Bonds’ status. The committee could reconsider electing Bonds when they meet again in December 2025.
Bonds earned 12 Silver Slugger awards and was an eight-time Gold Glove winner. He was named the National League Most Valuable Player seven times during his career.