MLB Roasted For Black History Month Post Celebrating Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds continues to be one of the most polarizing figures in baseball. So, when Major League Baseball chose to honor the home run champ on social media Sunday, the Internet had a lot to say.
Throughout the month of February, MLB is celebrating Black History Month by shining a spotlight on some of the game's most accomplished Black players. On Sunday, they chose Bonds.
But they ignored the big, gigantic elephant in the room.
Bonds accomplishments speak for themselves. He won seven MVPs en route to his record 762 home runs. His 73 homers in 2001 and his 232 walks, 120 intentional passes and .609 on-base percentage in 2004, remain single-season records.
Of course, there's an asterisk on those.
It is widely speculated Bonds used PEDs, but the 59-year-old still insists he never knowingly did — aside from the BALCO cream. Because of the steroid accusations and rumored character issues, Baseball Hall of Fame voters passed over Bonds during all 10 years of his eligibility.
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Yet MLB's social media post celebrated his milestones without mentioning any of the controversy associated with his career.
And fans took notice.
For the record, MLB doesn't determine who makes the Hall of Fame. Rather, the hall is run by private interests, and the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) holds the exclusive voting privilege to consider who goes to Cooperstown.
Still, the league's digital team had to know they were opening up a spicy can of worms by celebrating "one of the best offensive careers in history" — without mentioning the fact that he was villainized as the poster child of the steroid era.
Or maybe they knew exactly what they were doing. Any social media engagement is good engagement, baby!