Bobby Bonds was one of the great leadoff men of all time. He combined power and speed in ways that nobody had before and in the 1973 season he was a home run away from becoming the first ever 40/40 man in baseball history. Bonds did do the 30/30 five times in his career and displayed the kind of skills that would become expected from the next generation of baseball players. He would lead his respective league in Power-Speed nine times and as of this writing is 5th all-time in that statistic.
Bonds did have negatives that would keep him from the Hall. He did walk a lot, but his batting average was only .268. Subsequently, Bonds struck out a lot leading the league in that category three times. He may not necessarily deserve enshrinement in Cooperstown, but he does deserve to be out of shadows.
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