Mays Endorses Bonds

Willie Mays wants Barry Bonds in the Hall of Fame. He made an impromptu speech during the ceremony that retired Bonds’s number 25:

“I wish (the Giants) would give him a statue across the little bridge over there,” said Mays, referring to the Lefty O’Doul Bridge, nearby all the home runs Bonds hit into McCovey Cove. “Let him have it. Let him have the honor. Because I might not be here forever. I might be gone. I want him to have his kids say, ‘That’s my daddy over there.’”

Mays also made a plea to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, which votes for the Hall of Fame and has denied Bonds a Cooperstown enshrinement because of his connection with performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds has four more years on the ballot and last year received 56.4 percent of the vote. Seventy-five percent is required to be inducted.

“Give somebody the honor who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame,” Mays said. “On behalf of all of the people in San Francisco and all over the country, vote him in.”

Mays is godfather to Bonds, so this is a personal as well as professional matter. I suspect Mays does have some influence, however.

from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2Mmw2X6