McCovey: 'A sin' that Bonds isn't in the Hall of Fame

Barry Bonds is on the Hall of Fame ballot for his sixth year, and fellow San Francisco Giants great Willie McCovey thinks it's about time Bonds joined him in Cooperstown.

McCovey didn't pull any punches while disagreeing with Joe Morgan's request that voters avoid electing PED users, and actively champions the home-run king's Hall of Fame case.

"I just think it's a sin he's not in there," McCovey told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. "If anybody deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, it's Barry. ... You talk to anybody who played against him at that time, they'll say he was the best hitter they ever saw in their lives."

Bonds currently sits within striking distance of election, with 72.6 percent of the public vote, according to Ryan Thibodaux's Hall of Fame Tracker. Last year, he finished well short of the 75-percent threshold at 53.8 percent.

Morgan, the Hall of Fame vice chairman, made headlines in late November by sending out an email that asked Baseball Writers' Association of America voters to not elect "players who failed drug tests, admitted using steroids, or were identified as users in the Major League Baseball's investigation into steroid use, known as the Mitchell Report."

McCovey added, "You're naive if you don't think (Morgan's letter) was aimed at Barry."

Bonds is named as a PED user in the Mitchell Report. Aside from being the overall leader in home runs with 762, Bonds finished his career with a 1.051 OPS - making him one of seven players in baseball history to retire with an OPS higher than 1.000, and giving him the fourth-best mark of all time behind only Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Lou Gehrig.

McCovey was enshrined in Cooperstown on the first ballot in 1986 after receiving 81.4 percent of the vote.