Barry Bonds: It would mean a lot to me to make the Baseball Hall of Fame

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"I do really care," Bonds said last year. "I may say I don't, but I do really care. I've been through a lot in my life, so not too many things bother me. Making the Hall of Fame, would it be something that's gratifying because of what I've sacrificed? Sure. Baseball has been a big part of our lives. We've sacrificed our bodies. It's the way we made our living."

As in any election to the Hall, a player must garner at least 75 percent of the vote to be elected. Earlier this year, of the 569 ballots cast, 427 votes were needed for election. Bonds name appeared on 206 of the ballots, finishing ninth overall.

Bonds knows he is considered one of the most polarizing players in baseball history. For 22 years, he did things his way, going against the grain inside and outside of baseball. The end of Bonds' career was marked by the BALCO investigation, suspicion of performance-enhancing drug use and the federal court case that resulted in one guilty count for obstruction of justice (currently still sitting with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals).

Bonds said that he wishes he had done some things differently. "But I can't turn back the clock now," he said. "Time has passed. Wounds for me have healed."

Bonds, 49, has said he'd like to get back into baseball as a hitting instructor.

"I'm an expert in baseball, and I don't even have a job," Bonds said. "I'm an expert, more so than a lot of people out there. It should be my career until I'm dead. I should be one of the instructors. I think I've earned it."

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