Dusty Baker Questions Barry Bonds’s Ongoing Hall of Fame Exclusion

The Astros manager compared the all-time home run leader’s situation with other players who were involved in PED controversies.

Barry Bonds was not selected to the MLB Hall of Fame for the 10th consecutive year, and it continues to be a hot topic of conversation for those within the baseball world.

The former Giants slugger was widely regarded as a Hall of Fame caliber player before suspicion arose that he used PEDs. Yet MLB stars who played during Bonds’s career continue to wonder why one of the greatest hitters in history would continue to be excluded from the Hall of Fame. One of those stars is current Astros manager Dusty Baker.

NBC Sports’ Monty Poole spoke with Baker this week following this year’s Hall of Fame ceremony to get his thoughts on the Bonds situation.

“Same way Jeff Kent didn’t get in,” Baker said. “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.”

Even though Baker retired the same year that Bonds entered the league, Bonds was a key player on the Giants during Baker’s entire nine-year managerial tenure in San Francisco from 1993 to ’02. During that stretch, the outfielder made all but one All-Star Game and led the league in homers twice.

The three other players Baker mentioned in his response were also tied to PED controversies during their career, which has clouded their chances of making the Hall of Fame in recent years.

Despite his gaudy career statistics (most notably being the all-time leader in home runs), the Giants legend still doesn’t have a plaque in Cooperstown. It looks like the debate surrounding his eligibility for the Hall will continue to rage on.