Barry Bonds belongs in the hall of fame, even if he used steroids near the end of his career.

Barry Bonds is a once in a lifetime kind of player. His combination of speed and power and in his earlier years, defense, makes him an obvious hall of fame candidate. He is the only 500-500 player, meaning he has more than 500 home runs and 500 stolen bases. Heck, he's even the only 400-400 player. That achievement alone puts him in the hall of fame right away. There is no doubting this. Let's say 200 of his home runs came from steroids, and that is probably a high estimate. If Barry had 562 home runs, he'd still be among elite company. Yes, cheating is wrong, and steroids are bad, but Bonds is unquestionably a Hall of Fame player.

The same cannot be said for Mark McGwire, whose sole appeal came from his home runs in the late 1990s. McGwire had no speed and was mediocre defensively. To contrast this Bonds has won many Gold Gloves and has stolen more than 500 bases. Bonds is not some marginal hitter that got boosted to Hall status with the infusion of illicit (or semi-legal) drugs. He is an already excellent player who perhaps became the home run king through the use of steroids. There is no question that Barry Bonds is a Hall of Famer. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't understand just how good he was.

Actually he shouldn't. Pete Rose was also one of the greatest players to ever play the game. But he broke the rules. Rules are there to prohibit someone from breaking it. Breaking the rules has consequences and for barry bonds the consequence is that his stats are accepted but he doesn't belong in the hall of fame. Why are there rules to the game if it doesn't matter if any body follows them? sure bonds should be in the hall with his stats before he took steroids but if i cheated on a test and get kicked out of school i can't just come back to that school because i did well before i cheated.

I also believe that Pete Rose deserves to be in the Hall despite breaking rules, so using him as a comparison doesn't strengthen your argument much. Barry Bonds should not be viewed only as a cheater (if he did cheat at all.) There should be an honest study to see what he would have done without being enhanced by steroids, and if those numbers show Hall of Fame caliber, then he should be accepted. If not, he should be denied.

Nothing to add. I will close by saying I feel he has not provided any evidence against my claims. The school analogy doesn't work either.

Again why should cheaters be honered as a representation of how great the sport is. In my opinion the Hall of Fame shouldn't be all about stats. Did the player bring positive thiongs to the sport? Was he a good role model? Was he the kind of person that Baseball should be proud of? those all need to be a yes, and for bond sadly, the answers to those questions are no.