When infamous MLB stars Jose Canseco and Barry Bonds traded barbs over PED use in locker room row

In 2000, during baseball's 'Juiced' era, Barry Bonds was one of the names that made the headlines. A recent interview with Jose Canseco revealed how a locker room spat between the two resulted in Bonds going absolutely quiet.

Jose Canseco was a pinch hitter mainly for the Oakland Athletics, forming a formidable duo of the Bash Brothers with Mark McGwire. In a book released by him called 'Juiced World', Canseco came clean about the widespread use of PEDs in the baseball world.

That resulted in a whirlwind of legal cases against some of the biggest stars in the MLB. Among those names, Barry Bonds was a major one. He was accused of perjury and lying to court multiple times about the usage of PEDs.

In 2000, during a Las Vegas Home Run Challenge, Bonds taunted Jose Canseco about his body physique and hinting about usage of PEDs in front of the media in the locker room. The latter replied in a no-nonsense way that silenced Bonds.

"It was in the Las Vegas Home Run Challenge. I remember, we were in the locker room… And I took my shirt off, and it was about 255-260 lb. But I was ripped. The media is there, and he (Barry Bonds) screams across the lockout,” Jose Canseco said.

“He goes to quote, ‘Canseco, what the f**k have you been doing?’ And I looked back at him, and I said, ‘the same thing you are doing.’ Saying, I am using PEDs, you are doing the same thing. So, he kind of shut up.”

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Barry Bonds' ballots at Baseball Hall of Fame

Because of his tainted histoy after retirement, Barry Bonds has not made it to Cooperstown.

As per the Baseball Hall of Fame, a player is eligible to be voted into the prestigious list five years after retirement. They require 75% votes and get 10 attempts at the ballot process.

Bonds recorded 36.2% to 66% votes from his first till the last year of eligibility. In his last three seasons, he got more than 60% votes, but that wasn't enough. In 2022, he was also eligible to be voted in by the Veterans Committee, but he got less than four votes out of the 16 in total.