McGwire is a guy that HRs are the star to his case. I wouldn't put him in.
Look at his BA, OBP, and other stuff.
Bonds pre-1998 and just an average player after that till he retired is a HOFer.
Same for Clemens.
Steroids turned them for HOFers to all-time best of the best stuff.
A-Rod won't get in if the Bonds/Clemens don't and I think he is a HOFer as well.
yeah. I am still getting abused for my anti-bonds talk.. but thats ok.. thats why we have a board for discussions like this..
Consider this if Bonds doesnt take the Roids where does he end up with his career. he hit 300 home runs on that 5 yr stretch 2000-2004 and 60 after that.. without them he probably continues his downward trend 42-40-37-34 avg .308 .290 .303 .262 after
49-73-46-45-45 avg .306 .328 .370 . 341. 362
before that explosion at the age of 36 be had 3 40 Hr yrs and some middle 30s and 5 of under 25..
his avg he had one great yr of .336 at the age of 27 which is normally where guys peak a couple .310ish
and 7 under .290ish..
he was a nice solid player with a solid career.
if he finishes like most players he plays 2-3 more yrs finishes with low 500 HRs and under .300 avg instead after 36 he hits 80% more HRs and raises his avg and it still finishes under .300
#1. First off, when looking at HR totals from 1980-1993 in a historical context, you have to consider it was one of the lowest HR Era's of recent times. Other than 1987, 30 HR meant something in those years.
#2. You continue to look at AVG, while ignoring the much more relevant OBP. You are stuck two generations behind. Those are great seasons.
#3. You also fail to note how complete a player he was.
8 Gold Gloves, very good base stealer.
#3. To say he had one great year before the HR explosion is beyond ridiculous. Before the HR explosion (before age 36), he was top 5 in MVP voting, 8 TIMES !!!!
Has anyone not reached the hall of fame after being in the top 5 in MVP voting 8 Times, including having 3 MVP awards, and 2 second place finishes. Don't even bother looking it up, the answer is no. He should have won 4 in a row, but the media did not like him.
In Career MVP Win Shares, excluding everything from 2001 and beyond (i.e the 73 HR season and the next three), he has 5.46 career win shares. By itself that is the eight best of all time.
#4. In the Historical Baseball Abstract (published before his 73 HR year), Bill James had Barry Bonds as one of the top 5 left fielders of all time, and arguably the best. Bill James is a pretty smart guy.