For a fourth straight year, Giants outfielder Barry Bonds has homered, hit and intentionally walked his way to top of the National League, and he garnered the league's MVP honors Monday. And yet despite being the most dominating offensive power in his sport for the better part of this decade, a steroid-induced suspicion hangs over the slugger's head, threatening his legacy.
Now, anyone can make accusations and just about everyone has, but looking at the numbers alone, there can be no dispute that Bonds deserves his hardware.
The former Sun Devil had a season that saw him lead the league with an average of .362, a record 232 walks, a record .609 on-base percentage, an .812 slugging percentage, as well as belting out 45 home runs.
Even with federal investigations linking the slugger to the offices of Balco, a lab accused of providing performance-enhancing drugs to numerous athletes, Bonds put together arguably the best season of his career.
So, unless scrutinizers have infallible evidence of foul play, they should allow Bonds to take his now-deserving place as the best to ever play the game.
