Bonds should be Hall-bound

As the sports world turns:

Major League Baseball’s dark side includes the steroid scandal, too many mediocre players making superstar salaries and the ever-increasing price of tickets.

The bright side of baseball includes record-setting attendance and as many future Hall of Famers as the sport has ever seen.

Here’s my updated and revised list of active players on the road to Cooperstown (minimum five full seasons in the majors):

Sixteen locks (in order of preference)

Barry Bonds (San Francisco). You don’t have to like this seven-time MVP but you have to admire him as a ballplayer.

Roger Clemens (Houston). The modern version of Walter Johnson; 329-164 record, seven Cy Young awards and still going strong at 42.

Alex Rodriguez (New York Yankees). The move to the Bronx hasn’t been smooth, but he has 385 HRs and he’s still only 29.

Greg Maddux (Chicago Cubs). As crafty as any pitcher who ever lived; 305-175 and 2.96 ERA.

Mariano Rivera (Yankees). Arguably the all-time best relief pitcher; 0.75 ERA, 8-1 record and 32 saves in 70 postseason games.

Randy Johnson (Yankees). Grove-Spahn-Koufax-Johnson lead the parade of great left-handed pitchers.

Vladimir Guerrero (Los Angeles Angels). Now the rest of the baseball world knows what fans in Montreal knew for a long time.

Sammy Sosa (Baltimore). 576 HRs including seasons of 66, 64 and 63.

Mike Piazza (New York Mets). The all-time best-hitting catcher combining average (.314) and power (380 HRs).

Pedro Martinez (Mets). Terrific win-loss ratio percentage and ERA (184-76 and 2.70).

Ivan Rodriguez (Detroit). Might be the all-time best all-around catcher.

Ken Griffey Jr. (Cincinnati). Sometimes we forget how great he was in the 1990s.

Derek Jeter (Yankees). It is impossible to reflect intangibles on a plaque.

Manny Ramirez (Boston). An RBI machine.

Todd Helton (Colorado). A great hitter in or out of Coors Field (career BA is .338).

Rafael Palmeiro (Baltimore). Assuming the only performance-enhancing drug he used was Viagra. He has 2,933 hits and 552 HRs.

Knocking on the door

Frank Thomas (Chicago White Sox; two-time MVP, .308 career BA and 436 HRs), Curt Schilling (Boston; only 185 wins so far but his postseason heroics are a plus), Jeff Bagwell (Houston; .297 BA; 2,301 hits; 448 HRs; 1,518 RBI), John Smoltz (Atlanta; combination starter-reliever boosts his stock), Chipper Jones (Atlanta; .314 BA and 304 HRs), Jeff Kent (Los Angeles Dodgers; one of the all-time best-hitting second basemen), Larry Walker (St. Louis; career .313 BA, 370 HRs and two batting titles), Jim Edmonds (St. Louis; a late bloomer but still going strong with 307 HRs at age 34), Trevor Hoffman (San Diego; few relievers make Cooperstown but he should).

Too early to anoint

Miguel Tejada (Baltimore), Nomar Garciaparra (Chicago Cubs; one of baseball’s five-best players for a few years in Boston, but injuries have plagued him since and at age 31 one has to wonder how much he has left; career BA and hits), Gary Sheffield (New York Yankees; needs a few more productive seasons), Carlos Beltran (New York Mets; 10 more solid years appear likely), Scott Rolen (St. Louis), Bobby Abreu (Philadelphia; could be baseball’s most underrated player), Troy Glaus (Arizona), Jason Schmidt (San Francisco), Eric Gagne (Los Angeles Dodgers; has to pass the longevity test),Tim Hudson (Atlanta), Carlos Delgado (Florida), Lance Berkman (Houston), Mark Prior and Kerry Wood (Chicago Cubs), and the Texas Rangers infield (Mark Teixeira, Alfonso Soriano, Michael Young and Hank Blalock).

Not too early to anoint

Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle) and Albert Pujols (St. Louis). In only their fifth big-league seasons they’re already halfway to Cooperstown. If Ichiro (.340 career BA, two batting titles and a record 262-hit season) returns to Japan before he plays the minimum of 10 years in the majors for Hall of Fame eligibility, he should be enshrined as a special case. Were it not for Bonds, Pujols already would be a two-time MVP.

Three borderline cases

Tom Glavine (New York Mets). He has a 262-173 record and 3.45 ERA. Two other left-handers with similar win totals and ERAs aren’t in the Hall of Fame: Tommy John (288-231, 3.34 ERA) and Jim Kaat (283-237, 3.45 ERA). Glavine’s superior winning percentage could be the difference.

Bernie Williams (New York Yankees). At age 36 and fading, he figures to dip below .300 for his career. He’s currently at .301 with 2,111 hits and 264 HRs. Playing his entire career with the Yankees and being the all-time leader in postseason HRs and RBI could put him over the top.

Craig Biggio (Houston). He has 2,658 hits; 1,612 runs; 236 HRs; 1,002 RBI; and 399 stolen bases. He played wherever the Astros needed him (catcher, second base, center field and left field). A strong case could be made for him and against him.

Nice careers but probably not worthy

Mike Mussina (New York Yankees; 212-120, 3.60 ERA), David Wells (Boston; 214-138, 4.03 ERA), Kevin Brown (New York Yankees; 207-138, 3.21 ERA), Omar Vizquel (San Francisco; very underrated; not enough voters saw him play every day), Juan Gonzalez (Cleveland; likely to join Roger Maris and Dale Murphy as two-time MVPs not to make the Hall of Fame), Jim Thome (Philadelphia), Eric Chavez (Oakland), Moises Alou (San Francisco), Jorge Posada (New York Yankees), Magglio Ordonez (Detroit), Garret Anderson (Los Angeles Angels), Luis Gonzalez (Arizona), Andruw Jones (Atlanta; victim of too lofty expectations), Vernon Wells (Toronto), Mark Loretta (San Diego), Bret Boone (Seattle), Shawn Green (Arizona), Jamie Moyer (Seattle; got started too late), Andy Pettitte (Houston), Tino Martinez (New York Yankees), Vinny Castilla (Washington), Jeromy Burnitz (Chicago Cubs), Jose Vidro (Washington), Bartolo Colon (Los Angeles Angels), Phil Nevin (San Diego), Tim Salmon (Los Angeles Angels), Marquis Grissom (San Francisco; 2,237 hits) and Armando Benitez (San Francisco).