Colby Cosh wouldn’t put Bobby Bonds in the Hall of Fame.

If you look at the most-similar batters to Bobby Bonds (using another James method), you see names like–to take the top five–Ron Gant, Reggie Smith, Jack Clark, George Foster, and Fred Lynn. Bobby Bonds isn’t truly similar to any of those guys, and he was probably better than all of them, except maybe Lynn at top form (or Clark coming to the plate in the bottom of the ninth). But the list reminds you that it won’t do merely to show that Bobby Bonds was terrific, fantastic, splendid: so were Jim Wynn, Kenny Singleton, and Jesse Barfield, for a while. Anybody want to put Singleton in the Hall? (I know some people want to put in Bobby Murcer, who was once traded straight-up for Bobby Bonds.) Now, me, I’m almost willing to vote for Bob just because he smoked in the dugout between plate appearances. But let’s do this in the right order, eh? Bobby Bonds isn’t going to get any deader while he waits for Evans, Murphy, and Raines.

I liked Bobby when I was a kid, but I remember being disappointed when it turned out that he wasn’t really another Willie Mays. Bonds the Elder was a good and poetic player, but he wasn’t one of the greatest ever. Barry on the other hand …