Yep its an unfair argument to everyone involved. As a result, players like Murphy and Rice get discredited. Mark Twain always said, there are lies, dam lies and statistics. Theres too much emphasis on things that arent important. Rice and Murphy were winnners in every respect. Gossage or Blyleven may not have pitched every single day like Hoffman but he is going to win you the game, thats good enough for me. Mariano Rivera may be the greatest of all time but its a disservice to all those that arent in the hall before him because he is used differently than them yet those players get measured only in stats in comparison to Rivera and Hoffman which is completely unfair.

Same thing goes for Bonds, hes the best of his era, its a no brainer for the most part. If hes left out of the hall then no player from his era should be in the hall of fame. Bonds shouldnt be compared to Aaron or Ruth, he should be compared to the players he played with and against.