Bonds’ 715 embarrasses baseball

[Janice]

Bonds’ 715 embarrasses baseball

By Jeff Schultz
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Barry Bonds was in Milwaukee recently and the commissioner of baseball wouldn’t make the 10-minute drive from his house to watch him. So it follows that Bud Selig wasn’t in when Bonds moved past Babe Ruth on the home run list.

Nor were any of Ruth’s children. Nor any high-level officials. Nor anybody whose presence screamed, “I’m important, so I’m here.”

Barry Bonds hit his 715th home run Sunday. But every overblown ESPN news break-in couldn’t drown out the sad reality of the moment. It was as awkward as it was historical. Some wanted to watch. Most wanted to cover their eyes.

This wasn’t a player punctuating greatness. This was the most vilified sports star we’ve ever seen affirming his place among the five darkest moments in baseball history.

Count them. Like plagues:

1. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox are banned for conspiring to throw the 1919 World Series.
2. Pete Rose, the game’s greatest hitter, agrees to a lifetime ban for betting — on baseball.
3. Baseball cancels the 1994 World Series, not because of natural disaster but rather mutant labor negotiators.
4. Congress holds steroid hearings. Among the Murderers Row giving testimony: Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Jose Canseco — who ironically turns out to be baseball’s shining light.
5. Bonds passes the great Ruth and closes in on the great Hank Aaron. But he’s the poster child of the steroid era, and his baggage and personality have led him to become the sport’s greatest pox instead of ambassador.

This is a sport that embraces its heroes and statistical achievements. Numbers are dipped in gold. 56. 61. .400. 714. 755.

Now here comes a man who puts up incredible numbers and few outside of San Francisco want to celebrate. Selig said weeks ago he wouldn’t show up for 715. Hold the pomp, shelve the circumstance. Selig would close his eyes and pretend it didn’t happen. There’s an old country-western tune that applies here: “If the phone don’t ring, you know it’s me.”

The NFL had a vested interest in helping reshape Ray Lewis’ image after his Atlanta murder trial. The NBA needed Kobe Bryant to be a smiling pitchman again after rape charges were dropped.

Baseball isn’t moving to resuscitate Bonds. His image couldn’t be saved by “House.” He is impossible to like. A fan catches a home run ball. Bonds refuses a request to sign the ball but asks the fan to sign a release so he could use his likeness on his TV show. This is the sport’s ambassador?

Frogs, locusts, diseased cattle.

Gambling, strikes, steroids.

It’s all relative.

Embarrassment: The “Black” Sox scandal is still debated 87 years later. It has kept “Shoeless” Joe Jackson out of the Hall of Fame. Rose was never accused of throwing a game. He just gutted its integrity by betting and lying about it. The all-time hits leader was thrown out and isn’t in the Hall.

Embarrassment: Fans have learned to hate two words: collective bargaining. But nothing in the long, inglorious history of labor woes equals the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. Owners and players couldn’t figure out how to divide millions.

Embarrassment: Steroids have tainted this entire era of players. Bonds just happens to be the leader in the pharmacy. For baseball to strip him or any player of their statistics is nonsensical. What of the steroid-using pitchers Bonds homered off of? Do two druggies cancel each other out? How to determine which homers were drug-aided and which weren’t? It’s a futile exercise. But we know what steroids have done to the record book. Not players. Steroids.

Bonds says he doesn’t care what people say or think. If that were true, he wouldn’t be trying to reshape his image on TV. ESPN was only too happy to sell itself out, giving Bonds a time slot and a blank script for a weekly 30-minute soliloquy called, “Bonds on Bonds.”

My wife and I watched the other night. There was tape of Philadelphia fans booing Bonds as he stepped to the plate.

“Why are they booing him?” my wife asked. “There’s steroids in hot dogs and Babe Ruth ate those.”

My wife. Funny girl.

Bonds juiced because he was jealous. Relying on interviews, documents and grand jury testimony in the book, “Game of Shadows,” authors alleged that Bonds decided to turn to muscle drugs after witnessing the attention paid to the McGwire-Sosa home run chase in 1998.

Follow the growth. Bonds averaged 31.8 home runs from 1986 to 1999. He averaged 51.6 from 2000 to 2004, including 73 in 2001. He hit one home run every 16 at-bats in his first 14 seasons. He hit one every eight at-bats in his next five.

I know. Good hot dogs.

History views Ruth as a home run hitter. Bonds will be viewed as something far less. A lab creation.

There goes No. 715. Cover your eyes now.

[Mr. Television]

Great article.

[Brian Damage]

Nobody cares. Espn covered it because they had to. In time, a big fat asterisk will be by his name to match his big fat head.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

Nobody cares. Espn covered it because they had to. In time, a big fat asterisk will be by his name to match his big fat head.

[Janice]

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

In time, a big fat asterisk will be by his name to match his big fat head.

Sort of like this?

*Barry Bonds



* Cheated

[Brian Damage]

Let's take a look at Barry Bonds through the years....

[Gizmo1]

I think its horse****....lets commend a guy who juices up to hit home runs, cant even do it without all the extra meat, so i dont think he worked hard or deserves it...anyone can pop a pill or shoot up on steriods to inhance their performance, the real athletes are the ppl who dont have to use drugs; they work hard, like Babe did and all the other greats who didnt use drugs to get them where they wanted to be.

[Janice]

[mj3b]

Atleast he didnt pass the Babe vs. The Mets, that was what i was worrying about. It would have been great to see him get booed out of the city though

[Brad Russ]

Bonds passed Babe Ruth today?? Damn, I didn't even know about it. In my mind, he hasn't passed him, and The Babe remains the secong best ever long ball hitter. If The Bambino would have been in the shape that the top hitters of today are, and if the bats were juiced back then like they are today, Then he probably would have hit 1000 home runs. Anyway, until someone can surpass him fairly, The Babe will remain the man in my eyes!!

[Bobby F.]

Originally Posted by Little Mel

Bonds passed Babe Ruth today?? Damn, I didn't even know about it. In my mind, he hasn't passed him, and The Babe remains the secong best ever long ball hitter. If The Bambino would have been in the shape that the top hitters of today are, and if the bats were juiced back then like they are today, Then he probably would have hit 1000 home runs. Anyway, until someone can surpass him fairly, The Babe will remain the man in my eyes!!

Actually, The Babe should be put up as the best long ball hitter. His first few years(5, I think), he was a pitcher who won over 90 games so he didn't get all of the at bats that he could have because he would pitch every 4th day. As great as Hank Arron was, he had 3000 more at bats than Babe Rurh had. If the Babe had that many more at bats he might well have hit anywhere from 900 to 1000 homeruns.

[Brad Russ]

Originally Posted by Bobby F.

Actually, The Babe should be put up as the best long ball hitter. His first few years(5, I think), he was a pitcher who won over 90 games so he didn't get all of the at bats that he could have because he would pitch every 4th day. As great as Hank Arron was, he had 3000 more at bats than Babe Rurh had. If the Babe had that many more at bats he might well have hit anywhere from 900 to 1000 homeruns.

GREAT POINT Bobby!!! I had never even thought about that, but you're absolutely right. Had he had those extra 3000 at bats that Hank had, he probably would have had close to 1000 homeruns. That's something that most people overlook in this whole debate, but it has to be taken into account.

[Mr. Television]

I think what hurts the Babe with some of today's fans is that he played before television. The only chance anyone has to see him is through Newsreel footage.