Reds' Bauer: 'Barry Bonds is a Hall of Famer'

Cincinnati Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer believes MLB's all-time home run king deserves to be in Cooperstown despite steroid allegations.

"Barry Bonds is a Hall of Famer," Bauer wrote Sunday on Twitter.

He added: "The Hall of Fame is a shrine to the history of the game. Regardless of your feelings on this, steroids are part of the game's history. It would be very hard to convince me that no players in the Hall of Fame currently used performance-enhancing drugs."

Bauer said many banned PEDs used to be fair game, so players from different eras have to be judged on what baseball was like during that time period.

"What we would consider 'steroids,' substances that are illegal today, were legal back then," the former All-Star continued. "Greenies, amphetamines, etc., used to be handed out like candy. Players were forced to take them because it was seen as 'not doing everything you could to help the team' if you didn't."

Bauer also argued that not many players would be in Cooperstown if PED use disqualified someone from enshrinement.

"It would be a Hall of Empty if that were the case. At some point, the best players of their era have to be enshrined. Period," Bauer said.

Bonds, who hit 762 homers across 22 seasons, has denied knowingly taking steroids and pleaded not guilty to four charges of lying to a grand jury in 2003. He was found guilty by a jury in 2011, but an appeals court overturned the conviction in 2015.

The 14-time All-Star has two more years left to reach the 75% threshold required to get into the Hall of Fame. He received 60.7% of the vote from the Baseball Writers' Association of America in his eighth year of eligibility in 2020.