I've tried to take some time to post here to tone down my rhetoric. I am overjoyed that the writers did not honor Barry Bonds with the honor of election to the Hall of Fame. Bonds is a disgrace to the game. To send him to the HOF would damage the integrity of the game. If you send in Bonds, then Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson deserve induction as well. I can't believe people are willing to give Bonds a free pass to the HOF.
PEDs were against the rules since 1971. Depending on how pedantic you want to be, since the 1971 memo didn’t specifically name steroids, they were explicitly banned by name in a 1991 memo. Just because there was no testing doesn’t mean they were legal or permitted.
https://vault.si.com/.amp/vault/2009/02/16/the-rules-the-law-the-reality
"Baseball’s first written drug policy was issued by commissioner Bowie Kuhn at the start of the ’71 season. The policy did not explicitly address anabolic steroids, but it did say that baseball personnel must "comply with federal and state drug laws." Federal law at the time mandated that an appropriate prescription be obtained for the use of anabolic steroids.
What followed were memos from commissioners Fay Vincent in 1991 and Bud Selig in ’97 (excerpted below) that spelled out a broader drug policy and directly prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription. However, there was still no mandatory drug testing, and the union maintained the right to challenge disciplinary decisions that resulted from a violation of the policy."