Barry Bonds' Home Run Record Tainted by Mechanical Device

www.editorandpublisher.com ^ | August 06, 2007 | Michael Witte

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

NEW YORK Beyond his alleged steroid use, Barry Bonds is unquestionably guilty of the use of something that confers extraordinarily unfair mechanical advantage: the “armor” that he wears on his right elbow. Amid the press frenzy over Bonds’ unnatural bulk, the true role of the object on his right arm has simply gone unnoticed.

This is unfortunate, because by my estimate, Bonds’ front arm “armor” has contributed no fewer than 75 to 100 home runs to his already steroid-questionable total.

Bonds tied Henry Aaron’s home run record of 755 on Saturday night and will go for the new standard this week back at home in San Francisco. As a student of baseball – and currently a mechanics consultant to a major league baseball team -- I believe I have insight into the Bonds "achievement." I have studied his swing countless times on video and examined the mechanical gear closely through photographs.

For years, sportswriters remarked that his massive "protective" gear – unequaled in all of baseball -- permits Bonds to lean over the plate without fear of being hit by a pitch. Thus situated, Bonds can handle the outside pitch (where most pitchers live) unusually well. This is unfair advantage enough but no longer controversial. However, it is only one of at least seven unfair advantages conferred by the apparatus.

The other six:

1) The apparatus is hinged at the elbow. It is a literal "hitting machine" that allows Bonds to release his front arm on the same plane during every swing. It largely accounts for the seemingly magical consistency of every Bonds stroke.

[wagglebee]

Well if they let this go on another ten years or so, baseball will be the new professional wrestling, the Steinbrenner family will own the whole thing and it will be a complete joke.

[pyx]

Chelsea Clinton ?

[wagglebee]

Look for A-Rod to really break the record in about 6 years.

THAT will be the true record.

[jamese777]

“I find this “observation” to be the lamest thing ever stated. No one can show you gravity, but you know it’s there. No one really knows what electricity is, but they know it exists. No one really knows where Michael Jackson comes from, and yet we know it’s from an alternate universe.

Anyone who has ever spent any time body building or bulking up can see that Bonds is juiced on steroids. I don’t need for him to fail a test to know he uses or at used them.”

Yeah but you aren’t the Commissioner of Baseball and you don’t have to live by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

[carton253]

Rose, Concepcion, Morgan, Perez, Bench, Foster, Geronimo, and Griffey. What a team!

[sanjacjake]

Guess you never been to Petco Park..where Bonds hit
the 755th.....Pitcher’s love it...so there? jK

[Badeye]

Well if they let this go on another ten years or so, baseball will be the new professional wrestling, the Steinbrenner family will own the whole thing and it will be a complete joke.

It became a joke in 1998, now its just sad...so very very sad.

[Badeye]

Rose, Concepcion, Morgan, Perez, Bench, Foster, Geronimo, and Griffey. What a team!

Yes, it was. I could have pitched and won a few games for those hitters, with that defense.

[adorno]

One can only hope that an “*” will always reside next to the name “Bonds” in the record books

I'm with you.

I think it's high time that baseball finally admitted that some or many of it records are tainted. Baseball needs a system that will acknowledges all records but with "*" (asterisks) next to the record and the record-holder to indicate the conditions in which those records were attained.

Thus, a record-holder known to actively use steroids or any performance enhancing drugs or devices would be labeled with "*D" for drug usage. A user of a mechanical device would get labeled with "*M" (those might include "corked bats").. A player suspected of drugs or mechanical methods but unconfirmed could get labeled "*U" for uncertain or unconfirmed. In all cases where drugs or mechanical methods were used or suspected, the additional tag of "*C" could be inserted to signify a "Cheater".

If a label is needed to indicate a person that didn't need to cheat then we could perhaps use the "PD" indicator for "Pure and Decent".

[One_who_hopes_to_know]

My dad always said that baseball lost its appeal the day they took Dizzy Dean off the air.

And it died completely during the player's strike and we say millionaires fighting with billionaires for a bigger piece of the pie.

[Sue Perkick]

Part of it is there are people who love the GAME. And what we’ve seen through the years is the game being destroyed by certain players like Bonds, owners & “he whose name must not be spoken”. I’m not sure if baseball can ever get back to what it once was. But the Bonds situation is not taking it in the right direction. If baseball is just a stick & a ball to you it won’t make sense. At one time it really was the best game there ever was.

I’m not saying cheating is anything new. But back in the day there was a price to pay for it. Now it’s out in the open. Not only accepted but expected.

[Lee'sGhost]

Please!!! This is Miss America compared to Chelsea.

[Lee'sGhost]

Well, that’s for sure.

[Sue Perkick]

I remember a player saying during that mess that they had to strike or his family would "starve". Felt like "Elvising" my TV.

[Smittie]

Ruth played in 2503 games from 1914- 1935. 1928 had the most games he played in - 154.

Of course the only steroids the Bambino had was beer & hot dogs.

[Sue Perkick]

Yep Aaron and Maris still hold the records in my book.

Absolutely. The good thing is roidboy won't have this one long.

[Primetimedonna]

A Padres fan! I’m honored......let me thank all of you San Diego fans for the CLASS you showed! It was much appreciated in San Francisco!

[over3Owithabrain]

Baloney. Bonds WAS an excellent balllayer. He decided to forgo that to become an obsessive home run machine, through CHEATING. His record is bogus. Watching him play is ridiculous. His artifically bloated body; jogging on singles, ground balls, etc; his now-poor outfield play. That is not the game of baseball I care about, it is essentially a non-stop home run derby with little or no regard for the actual execution of a great sport. Baseball is prospering today without the HR excesses of the 90s - the sooner Bonds gets his cheesy record and retires the better.

[over3Owithabrain]

FYI - baseball is enjoying a resuregence in popularity. Park attendance is at an all-time high and TV ratings are climbing up steadily this season. Citing games with low attendance means little - there are a few bad teams every year and out of 81 home games people will not go out of their way every night to see them play.

[over3Owithabrain]

FYI - baseball is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Park attendance is at an all-time high and TV ratings are climbing up steadily this season. Citing games with low attendance means little - there are a few bad teams every year and out of 81 home games people will not go out of their way every night to see them play.