Fact or Fiction: Barry Bonds will be a first ballot Hall of Famer

[ahnonamis]

Steroid use controversy. A swollen head (figurative and physical). Public enemy number one. But above all, one of the greatest players to ever play the game.

Do you believe that Barry's stats (pre and post crisis Bonds) warrant him to enter the Hall of Fame on the first ballot? Or do you think he'll turn into another Pete Rose, and never quite make it for one reason or another (whether or not he'll be banned is a different story)? As a former sports writer, there is no way I can justify voting no for Bonds to be entered into the Hall of Fame. Does controversy surround his career? Yes, but controversy surrounds every nationally known figure.

Whether or not he used steroids, one key piece of information to remember is that it was not against baseball regulations at that time. If he used them now? Yes, ban him. But at the time, nothing stopped ANY player from using them. So if sports writers punish Bonds by not voting him in, you better take out any player voted in from 95 to 2000, because I guarantee you at least 1/3 of the active players used performance enchancing drugs in one way or another.