The time has come.

Let bygones be bygones.

Forget the past. Forget the controversy. Forget the allegations of cheating.

Let guys like Barry Bonds into the Hall of Fame.

If his head will fit through the door.

Now, I don’t mean let them-let them in. Certainly not. Their stained reputations can’t mingle with the rest of the pure and unadulterated ones like Ty Cobb and Gaylord Perry.

No, sir. Cobb was a perfect gentleman after all. Sure, he had a temper. Maybe he killed a guy. Maybe not.

And so Perry’s favorite pitch was a “puff ball.” So loaded up with rosin, it would kick up a cloud of white smoke when he released it. And, so what if after that was banned, he slobbered on the baseball more than a dog playing fetch. Big deal.

They’re in the Big Boy Hall of Fame.

Bonds and Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro, they should be in the Hall of Fame, too.

Just in a separate wing.

It could be called the Asterisk Wing and it would be a fun attraction in Cooperstown.

You could have Palmeiro’s wagging finger bronzed in immortality.

You could have the syringes Clemens (allegedly) used that Andy Pettitte misremembered on display.

Sosa’s corked bat.

McGwire’s bust with an inscription, “I’m not here to talk about the past.”

Fun for the whole family.

Pete Rose’s betting cards could cover a whole section like wallpaper.

Who wouldn’t want to go see that?

It’s an instant money-maker for Major League Baseball.

Sign me up. I’m going.

It could also include the borderline guys that maybe shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame.

Maybe an anti-Hall wing for guys like Derek “Operation Shutdown” Bell and former Pirates’ general manager Dave Littlefield.

The ball that bounced off Jose Canseco’s head for a home run in a case.

Former Bucco manager Jim Tracy’s personality in another case (it would be an empty case, but still.)

It’s silly to pretend Bonds didn’t do what he did. He was a Hall of Famer long before he (allegedly) cheated.

Fine, you don’t want him to sully the Hall. Fine, you don’t want the suspected ‘roiders to be recognized among the greats.

But you can’t ignore them.

Fans are smart that way. They know they all deserve to be in the Hall. Numbers (mostly) don’t lie.

Truth is, will we really ever know how many in that era cheated? Absolutely not. Odds are many, many more — some who are already in the Hall — broke the rules. Big time.

Let ‘em in. Let ‘em all in.

Just put them in a separate wing.

And grab an asterisk T-shirt and leave a urine sample on the way out.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.