San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds hits a home run in a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, May 5, 2007 in San Francisco. (AP Photo/George Nikitin)
Posted on 05/07/2007 5:43:59 PM PDT by martin_fierro
Poll: Bonds' HR quest gets scant support
Mon May 7, 2:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Only about four in 10 baseball fans are rooting for Barry Bonds to break the career home run record and most think he knowingly took steroids, according to a poll showing stark racial divisions in how the San Francisco Giants' slugger is viewed.
Still, most fans think Bonds should end up in the Hall of Fame. He has 10 homers this season and 744 lifetime — 11 shy of Hank Aaron's record, one of the most revered in sports.
In the poll by ABC News and ESPN, 37 percent said they are rooting for Bonds to break Aaron's record, while 52 percent said they hope he falls short and 11 percent had no opinion. Twenty-eight percent of whites and nearly 75 percent of blacks said they were hoping Bonds succeeds.
Nearly three quarters said they think Bonds knowingly took the performance-enhancing drugs, which he has long denied. Just more than a third of blacks — and three-fourths of whites — shared that view.
Of those who think he used steroids, two-thirds said that makes him a cheater — even though major league baseball was not testing for the drugs at the time. There was no racial breakdown for that question.
Nearly six in 10 said Bonds should be elected to the Hall of Fame, including majorities of both races. About as many said they believe he has been treated fairly, including a third of blacks and six in 10 whites.
Of those who think his treatment has been unfair, more blacks and whites say it is because of his alleged steroid use than because of his race.
The ABC-ESPN poll involved telephone interviews with 799 adult baseball fans from March 29 to April 22. Its margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Those surveyed included 203 blacks, for whom the margin of sampling error was 7 percentage points.
San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds hits a home run in a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, May 5, 2007 in San Francisco. (AP Photo/George Nikitin)
Beisbol Ping
Imagine if Aaron could have pumped up with steroids in his final 5 years of playing.
Seriously, no one I know gives a crap about Bonds breaking this record. It will forever be cheating to true fans of the sport.
I suspect that if Bonds were "clean" and whether he was a jerk or not, the vast majority of whites would wish him good luck and success.
OTOH, if it were a white player seeking the record that was held by a black man, clean or not, jerk or not, the majority of blacks would wish for failure.
It's an ugly reality.
Can somebody please explain to me, why race is considered an issue here? He’s going for the all time record held by another black man. So where is the race component?
There is strong evidence that Barry used steroids. While not specifically banned by baseball until 2002, the steroids he used were illegal unless prescribed by a physician. So he’s in violation of the drugs laws, if, he used steroids.
Some baseball records are meaningless. This all time home run record is one of them. He might play a couple more years and get over 800 homers. It won’t be a meaningful achievement. And not because of his race but because the court of public opinion thinks he used steroids. Even if he’ll never tell.
I suspect that whatever the reason, ultimately, a honkey will be the cause.
Yep
I suspect that whatever the reason, ultimately, a honkey will be the cause.
Yep
Most of the record breakers were booed against.
Including Maris and Aaron. Bonds is no different.
I was never a Barry Bonds fan but I am rooting for him to break the record. I am sick and tired of all the hippocites in our society bashing baseball players for using drugs when the whole damn country is on drugs. Legal prescriptions or illegal. I just finished watching two programs on the drug use in the seventies and eighties on VH1 classics.
I was also extremely irritated when McGuire,etal were called before that congressional committee and treated like criminals by that sanctamonius bunch of crooks.
Go Barry!!
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