Barry Bonds Denies Saying MLB Gave Him 'Death Penalty' by Missing Hall of Fame

Former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds attempted to clarify any confusion about whether he said Major League Baseball issued him a "death penalty" when it came to making the Hall of Fame.

He posted the following message on his Instagram page:

"CLARIFICATION: I spent some time with writer Andrew Baggarly while I was at Spring Training last weekend. At the end of our discussion about hitting, he asked me about the Hall of Fame. I opened up to him, sharing some of my thoughts and feelings of where I stand on the subject. Unfortunately, I was misquoted. I did not say Major League Baseball has given me a death sentence. I did not reference the league in any way nor did I infer that MLB was keeping me out of the Hall.  In our conversation, I made the analogy that I had two years left in a "life sentence" meaning I had two years left on the ballot. If I didn't make it in the Hall during that time, then I would be given the "death penalty" by being omitted by the writers.

"Baggarly has since posted a retraction and editorial note, which I very much appreciate; however, neither have been given any attention. Our conversation was a long one and this was only a small piece of it."

Baggarly, who works for The Athletic, shared his own clarification to his story on Twitter:

Just based purely on his statistical production, there is no question Bonds belongs in the Hall of Fame. After all, he holds the all-time record with 762 home runs and built a resume that included seven MVP awards, 12 Silver Sluggers, eight Gold Gloves, two batting titles and 14 All-Star selections.

However, he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during his playing career.

An association with performance-enhancing drugs has kept a number of notable players out of the Hall of Fame to this point, including Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa.

"My heart, it's broken," Bonds said in the initial Baggarly story. "Really broken."

There is some reason for optimism for Bonds when it comes to his Hall of Fame quest, as he earned 60.7 percent of the vote in 2020. That is much higher than the 36.2 percent clip he earned in 2013, which was his first year on the ballot.

Bonds is trending in the right direction but needs to receive 75 percent of the vote to reach the Hall.