Barry Bonds is one of the players whose careers and reputations have been destroyed by Roidgate. One of the greatest baseball players of all-time, Bonds will likely never be allowed into the Hall of Fame because of his alleged use of steroids. But David Justice, one of the Atlanta Braves' most celebrated players of all time, says that Bonds should be let in at least on the strength of his pre-juicing days. The former power hitter says that he made it on his own merits for much of his career.
The issue of PED's in professional baseball is a polarizing one. There are a million different arguments coming from a million different vantage points. But if the issue is about performance without banned substances, then Bonds proved that he was an amazing athlete throughout his first decade in the business (via Sports Illustrated '93):
"Says [former teammate Andy] Van Slyke: 'I know Barry doesn't care what people think. It can't matter to him whether he's beloved here or not. It just can't, not the way he has behaved. All he's ever wanted -- it's like his religion -- is to be judged by what he's done on the field... He is... the greatest player I ever played with, or will ever play with.'"
According to David Justice, the league is being petty. They are trying to punish people they think they can catch cheating, instead of acknowledging the accomplishments that have been made while clean (via TMZ):
"Yeah, Barry was probably juiced up from '97 to '07 ... and that's bad. But BB was a BEAST from '86 to '97 ... BEFORE his head expanded 8 hat sizes. 'I think they should put Barry in ... period,' [said Justice]."
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