Barry Bonds What Will His Legacy Be

Of all of the controversy in the sports world, baseball’s steroid era is one of the elephants in the room. While icons such as Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens have been reprimanded by the sports world for their use of performance enhancing drugs, the most polarizing of the bunch might be Barry Bonds. Bonds broke the home run record, but many feel that his achievements were a fraud due to his use of PED’s. He is scorned now, but what will his legacy look like a decade or two from now?

The best comparison for Bonds’ situation might be Pete Rose.I found some more information here. Like Bonds, Rose was shunned by the baseball world. In Rose’s case, it was because he was caught betting on games. Also like Bonds, Rose held a coveted record, as he is the all-time leader in hits by a baseball player. Over time, the public seems to have softened on Rose. Many now argue that he should be in the Hall of Fame, though these arguments weren’t heard 20 years ago. Similar sports figures, such as Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles, have been condemned only to be forgiven by the public later on.

Because of this trend of forgiveness of sports figures, it seems likely that Bonds will be forgiven by the public and not viewed with so much scorn. He will always have his detractors, who will claim that he doesn’t deserve the home run record. And that may be true. However, Bonds will probably be remember as less of a cheater in the long run, and more as a guy who was a great player that made a terrible mistake.