I voted Pete Rose.  I care about steroids and I believe Bonds cheated by using them, but surely everyone who sees the world as I do must at least acknowledge (if not support) the case for Barry in the Hall of Fame.

Pete Rose still has loyal supporters.  But there are many within the global baseball community who would never, ever, EVER tolerate Charlie Hustle's induction into the Hall.   The Mitchell Report may make MLB execs think they miss the days when Rose was the faded star making headlines and court appearances, but believe me, if and when his case is reopened it will be a war.

I voted Bonds.  I was going to vote for Pete Rose, but then I considered the wording of the question.  As a player, Rose was not all that controversial.  He was, however, extremely controversial as a manager.  His playing career does become an issue when discussing his candidacy for the Hall of Fame, but without his actions as a manager there would be no controversy.  I may be nitpicking, but that is my reasoning.

Were the question most controversial figure of the last 40 years, I would vote Rose in a heartbeat.

I voted Jim Bouton because IMO Ball Four was the opening of eyes to the fact that many ball players were not quite the role models they appeared to be and that boys will be boys was most definitely true.

Curt Flood, for challenging baseball's reserve clause.

Other: Glenn Burke.  Baseball is even slower to confront its prejudices than to address its miscreants.  There was no loud protest, but Burke made baseball more uncomfortable with his coming out, in my opinion, than any of the other options.  Shea Hillenbrand would be closer to the mainstream of baseball opinion than most in baseball. Shea loves Barry Bonds, and perhaps thinks Pete Rose is a hero. 

Rose all the way. To be truely controversial you need people to be both on the pro and anti side. Rose has people who are (or at least were) amazingly strong on each side.

Glenn Burke is a good one to bring up. I honestly didn't know about him which surprises the heck out of me. How could the one guy to come out while playing be such an unknown figure?

As I write this, Rose and Bonds lead the way, each with 44 votes. Word on the street is that Charlie Hustle(r) is laying 5:6 that he beats Bonds in the end, but Barry, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary,  is denying that he is even part of the ballot.

John Rocker is chsesed off that only four of the nine candidates are white, screaming something about not willing to be labeled part of a minority group. Dick Allen refused to speak about any issue while Reggie Jackson and Jose Canseco refused to shut up about any issue.

Jim Bouton just hit "Record" on this tape player nnd sat back with a sh*t-eating grin as he mentally drafted out his new book, I Wuz Robbed! Steve Howe and Darryl Strawberry were AWOL and could not be reached for comment.

I had to go with Canseco. After he wrote his book, everyone laughed at him. Now, it seems he was being more truthful than most others (especially the see no evil, hear no evil types at the top of the organizations and MLB). Perhaps his claims of being blacklisted are also true. At least he came clean. I wish a lot of others would just get it over with.

Bonds. He'd already be in the stocks if the mainstream media and self-righteous legislators and bureaucrats had their way. He's an icon of evil for 21st-century witch hunters. The Bonds controversy goes beyond baseball, beyond race, beyond facts (as J. C. Bradbury keeps pointing out, HGH does not enhance athletic performance); it seems to be rooted in a systemic attempted erosion of individual freedoms that is symptomatic of latent fascism.

I'm not saying Bonds is a saint. He ain't. He's very human, with all the complexities and internal contradictions that word implies.

The Spaceman, Bill Lee. Articulate, intelligent finesse pitcher and the author of four entertaining books, Bill Lee forever endeared himself to me by comparing the Red Sox to the '64 Phillies and the '67 Arabs. Bill didn't mess with steroids, but was no stranger to the King of Drugs. If you don't know what that it, it's time you reread Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Warren Zevon wrote a song about him.

I went with Bonds.  He's the most polarizing.  He is so undeniably good, yet so undeniably flawed.  Baseball might want to forget him, or want to ignore him, but he looms way too large.

Give Arod some more time in the Big Apple.

He may flabbergast his way to the top.