Last year, we did our first ever debate on Notinhalloffame.com where we tackled the Hall of Fame merit of twenty-four men who are on the Hall of Fame ballot, in what was in our opinion the most loaded ballot in our lifetime.

Since it was so much fun last time, we thought we would do it again!

One thing that has not changed is the number.  We will again debate twenty-four men who are on the ballot.

What has changed are the ones debating.  Last year I had the pleasure of having DDT, the curator of DDT’s Pop Flies blog and D.K. of the Phillies Archivist blog.  This year, Spheniscus, who has participated in past Rock and Roll discussions, will be joining me.

Sometimes I feel like I’m beating a dead horse.

Not that long ago when Mark McGwire landed the Hitting Coach job with the St. Louis Cardinals, we thought this might help his Hall of Fame chances as he was back in the MLB fold.  It didn’t, but McGwire isn’t the home run king.  Barry Bonds is.

While the Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot for this year was already known, it is worth noting that the names on the ballot have been made official and have been sent out to prospective voters.

Let’s go through the ballot and take a quick look shall we?

Barry Bonds got into the Hall of Fame!   The Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame that is. 

While Bonds is struggling to gain the necessary votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame, the city of San Francisco might be the only Baseball stronghold that holds the all-time Home Run king in high regard. 

The vote for the candidates on the 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is without a doubt historical because of two salient and unavoidable facts: One is that this year's ballot is overstuffed with potential Hall of Fame candidates—presenting an even bigger logjam to entrance to the Hall—and the other is that this year's vote is an inescapable referendum on the stance toward the "Steroids Era" as even more players active during the period of the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s implicated with performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are newly eligible.

Note: Part 1 of this two-part series goes into detail—considerable detail—to examine both the overstuffed ballot and, more comprehensively, the atmosphere of moral dudgeon surrounding the suspected and admitted usage of PEDs by players on previous ballots and especially by players eligible for the Hall for the first time this year. If you want only to read the players' evaluations, skip to Part 2.

You may have noticed many sportswriters who have a Hall of Fame ballot for the Baseball drink a little more these days. The PED question is now utterly unavoidable with the new wave of eligible candidates as the sport’s biggest stars of the last two decades are now eligible for Hall of Fame enshrinement.

It is not that our baseball list has not been controversial in the past. We have already put it through serious revisions when we initially created a “1a” and a “1b” to accommodate the fact that both Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson are ineligible for the Hall due to gambling. A thought crossed our mind to create a list of eligible players who were caught (or suspected) of using PEDs, but there is one fact that cannot be ignored: these players ARE eligible for the Hall of Fame, and as such we have elected to treat as an “era” of the sport.

It has been often said that Barry Bonds would have been a Hall of Famer before the period it is believed that he started taking Performance Enhancing Drugs. With excellent career numbers (both traditional and sabermetric) and three National League MVP Awards under his belt, the Cooperstown resume was already there. What has been speculated is that Bonds grew frustrated at the attention that Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire received during their famous chase of Roger Maris’ single-season Home Run record and that had he done the same things (PED) that they did, he could have surpassed their levels. Whether or not that history is correct, Bonds’ already impressive numbers reached stratospheric levels, and he completely dominated the Steroid Era.

We don’t have to tell you all the statistics. A first look shows seven MVPs, the career Homer Run and Walks mark, and the top five career tallies in Runs, RBIs, WAR, and OPS, and that is without going into great depth. We also don’t have to tell you that Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro (others tainted with PEDs) have colossally failed to get the writer’s support for the Hall, and there is no evidence to show they will change their minds. However, the fact is that Barry Bonds was a better player than those two superstars and if any player from that era deserves to get in, it is Barry Bonds.

We would have no problem casting a vote for Bonds for the Hall of Fame if we were ever granted a ballot, as evidenced by his selection to the top of our list. We would however understand if you wouldn’t.

Should Barry Bonds be in the Hall of Fame?

Definitely put him in! Maybe, but others deserve it first. Probably not, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. No opinion. No way!

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Definitely put him in! - 58.5%

Maybe, but others deserve it first. - 1%

Probably not, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. - 2.3%

No opinion. - 0.5%

No way! - 37.6%