Ranking the 10 Greatest Modern-Era MLB Players Who Never Won a World Series | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

This is by no means a campaign to get Barry Bonds into the Hall of Fame. His candidacy will always be as polarizing as his personality.

But the reality is Bonds was a Hall of Famer well before his steroid use. In fact, his eventual home run chase detracted from the supremely gifted all-around talent Bonds was during the 1990s.

Let's look at Bonds' numbers from 1990 through 1998, the year McGwire and Sammy Sosa embarked on their historic home run race. During that nine-year stretch, Bonds amassed 78.0 fWAR. The next-closest star was Griffey with...61.1 fWAR. Thomas next at 51.7.

Obviously, the gap between Bonds and the rest was enormous. He led baseball with a 173 wRC+ in those nine years and ranked first in runs scored and RBI. He also ranked third in homers and sixth in stolen bases.

The seven-time MVP won his first three MVPs from 1990 to 1993. Then he had a 40-40 season in 1996. Oh, Bonds also won eight Gold Glove Awards from 1990 to 1998.

Still, we have no choice but to address the 2000s. The numbers are unfathomable. Set aside the 73-homer season in 2001 for a second. Bonds walked 232 (!) times in 2004, including 120 (!) intentional walks. That was the same season, at age 39, he set career highs in OBP (.609) and OPS (1.422) in the last of four straight MVP campaigns. Even when he got into his 40s, opposing pitchers still refused to pitch to Bonds.

The 762 home runs will always garner the most attention. But Bonds also holds the record for bases on balls (2,558) and intentional walks (688). Nobody wanted any part of this man, probably because he had unbelievably quick hands on the inner half and could also drive the ball to all fields. 

Please just watch former Los Angeles Dodgers closer and NL Cy Young winner Eric Gagne explain one of the greatest at-bats in MLB history from 2004. Bonds lays off a ridiculous backdoor 0-2 breaking ball and then hits a 1-2 fastball (at 101 mph) miles down the right field line, just foul. Then Bonds turns around a 99 mph fastball on 2-2 and deposits it into the center field bleachers. 

That at-bat alone says so much about Bonds. But we can't forget about his 2002 postseason. Bonds hit eight homers, including four during a World Series in which he hit .471 in a seven-game loss to the Los Angeles Angels. His Game 2 shot prompted Angels legend Tim Salmon to appear to call it the furthest ball he had ever seen hit. 

It doesn't matter which way the cookie crumbles. Bonds is one of the best players to ever grace a baseball field, regardless of performance-enhancing drugs.