Bonds Backs McGwire for Hall

In a report from a Santo Domingo press conference, Barry Bonds threw in his support of Mark McGwire for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He also said Pete Rose deserves a place in Cooperstown. All three players hold impressive statistics, yet they are surrounded by controversy and doubt.

Why Mark McGwire deserves a spot in the Hall: He hit 70 home runs in 1998 to break Roger Maris's record. He totaled 583 during his entire career with the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals. Why he doesn't: Many suspect he inflated his statistics by using steroids even though he never tested positive for an illegal substance. During Congressional hearings about the steroid issue, McGwire preferred silence and did not convince anyone of his innocence. In his first time on the Hall ballot, McGwire only received 23% of the votes--quite short of the 75% required for induction.

Why Pete Rose deserves a spot in the Hall: He holds the record for hits in a career. Why he doesn't: Rose has been banned from baseball after admitting to gambling on the sport. He never bet on a game in which he played, but rules explicitly disallowed betting on any Major League ballgame.

Why Barry Bonds deserves a spot in the Hall: He holds the current record for home runs in a season with 73. Through 2006, he has hit 733 total homers (just 22 short of Hank Aaron's all-time record. Since he is still playing at the age of 42, he has a chance to pass Aaron. Why he doesn't: Like McGwire, Bonds is surrounded by the steroid controversy, but his record isn't as clean. Bonds is the target of a probe into possible perjury for saying he never knowingly took any performance enhancing drugs.

Why Bonds supports the other two: Obviously, if two players with incredible statistics cannot be voted into the Hall, Bonds will have trouble of his own. Bonds says he wants to break Aaron's record to win himself a spot in the Hall.

Here's my biggest question: The last line of the linked report reads, "'That's my current objective,' he told Spanish-language reporters through a translator." Wondering why there were translators, I looked back at the top of the report for its origin. Why was Bonds in Santo Domingo?