Yankees and the Hall of Fame: Bobby Bonds
- James Vlietstra
- 7 hours ago
- 1 min read
by James Vlietstra
***
Over the next many weeks, and months, I am going to review the credentials of several former Yankees.
I will present these players one at a time.
Together, we can discuss if we believe that these players are deserving of being included in the Hall of Fame or not.
I hope you read along and share your opinions.
Bobby Bonds...
Spent 14 years in the Major Leagues on eight different teams.
He spent the 1975 season with the Yankees, when he was an All-Star, had a 5.0 WAR, and 151 OPS+.
He had a career WAR of 57.9, which ranks 139 all time among position players and is above Willie Stargell, David Ortiz, Hank Greenberg, Tony Perez, Fred McGriff, and Kirby Puckett.
He had 100+ RBIs twice. He had 100+ Runs scored six times, including three times over 120.
He held the record for most leadoff homeruns (35) until Rickey Henderson passed him.
His career OPS+ was 129. He had seven seasons with a WAR of 5.0 or higher.
His 332 homeruns and 460 stolen bases rank 121th and 51st, respectively.
At the time of his retirement, those rankings were 38 and 31, respectively. At the time of his retirement, his WAR ranking was 77th among position players.
He accumulated 300+ total bases four times.
In 2025, Jazz Chisholm became the third Yankee to eclipse 30/30, joining Alfonso Soriano and Bobby Bonds as the only three Yankees to do so. Bonds had 10 seasons of 25/30 or better.
Bonds was on the ballot for 11 years, getting as high as 10.6% of the vote.
