Add Dusty Baker to the long list of people who believe Barry Bonds deserves a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
On Sunday, Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz was awarded his plaque in Cooperstown during his first year of eligibility. Bonds, who boasts an objectively superior resume, was denied in each of his ten years of eligibility.
So how is Ortiz in while Bonds remains the outsider looking in?
“Same way Jeff Kent didn’t get in,” Baker said on Monday afternoon, per NBC Sports. “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.”
Bonds was one of the many players to have well-documented histories of alleged PED use during the MLB’s “steroid era.” Ortiz also has allegations of steroid use stemming from a reported positive test in 2003.
Bonds is a 14-time MLB All-Star and seven-time league MVP. He retired as the all-time home run leader in 2007 with 762.
Baker was manager of the San Francisco Giants from 1993-2002 — notching 10 seasons of overlap with Bonds.
“There was none better than Barry,” Baker added. “When you talk about the best of that era, people always want you admit this or that. Well, Mark McGwire admitted and he’s not in. He should be in, too.”