Heyman for Bonds

Jon Heyman casts his Hall of Fame ballot for Barry Bonds, but not Roger Clemens:

For four years now we Hall of Fame voters have stared at that big name on the ballot, and many of us don’t know what to do. For the first three years he appeared, I stared at it, and stared some more. But I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring myself to vote for the superstar player who turned himself into the greatest player any of us has ever seen, thanks to the aid of mad scientist Victor Conte, loyal trainer Greg Anderson and various chemicals.

But somehow, I always figured I couldn’t say no forever to a player who was an all-time great very likely before he ever touched the bad stuff that would make him a better Babe Ruth, easily the greatest offensive force since baseball integrated. While I never before have voted for a player so inextricably linked to the juice (or linked at all for that matter), I always promised to take every player on the ballot case by case.

In this case, after much deliberation, for the first time I checked “yes” for Bonds. Every player has his own story. And Bonds’ story is compelling, even if it isn’t exactly the story he’s always told.

He also cites the rule change of eligibility from 15 to 10 years as a reason for changing his vote.

This is the third writer from a major news outlet this season who flipped on Bonds (the other two flipped on Clemens as well). These are people with big megaphones, so we will see how many more flip in the future.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1PvzUQv