Wagner defends Bonds, Bagwell after PED allegations
Retired relief pitcher Billy Wagner was not among the players elected to the Hall of Fame when the final tally of votes submitted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America were revealed Thursday.
One day after the announcement was made that Tim Raines, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jeff Bagwell were heading to Cooperstown, Wagner appeared on MLB Network Radio to give his thoughts, most of which surrounded the performance-enhancing drug allegations of former teammate Bagwell, as well as Barry Bonds - who missed out by 16.7 percent of the required 75 percent of votes required for election.
Wagner called Bonds "the best player I ever played against," and said he didn't care if the seven-time MVP took PEDs or not.
Bonds, MLB's all-time leader in home runs, was revealed as having been supplied PEDs in the 2003 BALCO scandal, which has hurt his chances of entering the Hall. He's now missed out on election for five years.
Wagner also came to the defense of Bagwell, who was accused of using steroids by whistle-blower Jose Canseco on Wednesday:
Tom verducci's ballot for the Hall of Fame what an idiot he said that Jeff Bagwell never use steroids you have got to be kidding me right
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) January 18, 2017
How the f*** is Jeff Bagwell being inducted into the Hall of Fame and Mark mcgwire's not that is disgusting
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) January 18, 2017
"There has to be serious evidence. You can't have Canseco coming out saying this guy did it and this guy did it," Wagner explained. "I don't know that. Unless the guy comes out like A-Rod or (Jason) Giambi or gets caught testing positive that's the only real evidence we have.
"The speculation is killing everybody. It killed Bagwell for seven years. I was his teammate and I never saw anything."
Wagner and Bagwell were teammates with the Houston Astros from 1995-2003, when Bagwell hit 327 home runs and drove in 1,039 runs.