By Mardeio Cannon | OBSERVER Columnist

Baseball writers who have received ballots for the 2022 induction into Major League Baseball (MLB) Hall of Fame will see Barry Bonds’ name on the ballot for the last time. This means that if Barry Bonds does not get 75% of the votes needed for the Hall of Fame, he will NOT be on the ballot ever again. 

What this means is the man with the most home runs in baseball history (755) will not be admitted to MLB’s hallowed Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

In my opinion, Bonds will not get the necessary votes and will miss getting into the Hall Of Fame. This will be a snub of gigantic proportion that will deny one of the greatest performers in baseball history his due. Most of you know that Pete Rose, MLB’s all-time leader in hits has been denied entry in the Hall Of Fame because of  his ties to gambling.

There are two main reasons that Bonds will be denied entry in the Hall Of Fame. The first reason is the belief of many baseball purists that Bonds got involved in taking steroids and other performance-enhancing substances. Although Bonds never was proven to take steroids, there was speculation that something happened to his body before he went on the assault of Hank Aaron’s home run record. 

Many supporters of Bonds’ entry into the Hall Of Fame point out that Bonds carved out a Hall Of Fame career by winning three MVP awards while a  member of the Pittsburgh Pirates before he signed with the San Francisco Giants. 

The second,  and I believe the greatest, reason that Bonds will be denied entry into the Hall Of Fame is his personality and the way he treated sports writers.

Bonds had a very caustic relationship with the press because, according to reports, he carried resentment to the baseball writers for the way they treated his father, Bobby. I believe that many baseball writers are getting back at Barry Bonds for the way he treated many of them over the years.  

The bottom line is that two of the most outstanding performers in MLB history will be denied entry for their career accomplishments in the Hall Of Fame and they shoulder most of the blame. However, I believe that both Barry Bonds and Pete Rose should be admitted to the Hall Of Fame with an explanation by their name.

Changes At Notre Dame

I will now root for the success of the Notre Dame college football team after the gutsy hire of Marcus Freeman, the 35-year-old African American as their head coach. For years, I carried a resentment to the Notre Dame program after the way they treated their first African American head coach, Tyrone Willingham. 

Willingham was a hit as the head coach in his first  two years, however, after only one losing season he was fired. Notre Dame then hired several white head coaches who were allowed to have losing seasons. 

Good luck Mr. Marcus Freeman, may good fortunes shine on your coaching career at Notre Dame.