Willie Mays's Message to Hall of Fame Voters: Get Barry Bonds in
The San Francisco Giants retired Barry Bonds's No. 25 on Saturday night. During the ceremony, Giants legend Willie Mays urged the Hall of Fame voters to get Bonds in.
During Mays's speech at AT&T Park, he called Bonds "his little son" and said the slugger should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
"Give somebody honor that deserves to be in the Hall of Fame," Mays said. "When you get there you'll say 'Man, how did I get here?' And I want him to have that honor."
"On behalf of all of the people in San Francisco and the country, vote this guy in," Mays added.
Mays played for the Giants in New York and San Francisco for 20 seasons during his 22-year career. The 24-time All-Star was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979 with 94.7% of the vote. Mays is also Bonds's godfather.
Bonds played for the Giants for the last 15 seasons of his 22-year career. He is most notably remembered for hitting a record 762 home runs. (Check out some of his best dingers here.) During his career, Bonds was also suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs.
Because of this, it remains to be seen if Bonds will get enough support to be voted into the Hall of Fame. Bonds has been on the ballot since 2013, getting his highest voting percentage this year (56.4%).