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Posted on 08/08/2007 4:58:54 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
There's no denying 756 home runs, and if Selig wants to try, he'd better examine the rest of baseball history
Baseball's most cherished record now belongs to Barry Bonds, and no matter what is said, written or alleged, there is no taking it away. Teeing off on a 3-2 pitch from Washington Nationals left-hander Mike Bacsik, Bonds launched his 756th career home run to the deepest part of AT&T Park on Tuesday night. The instant the ball left his bat and sizzled toward right-center field, there was no doubt the San Francisco Giants' controversial slugger had just elbowed his way past Henry Aaron for the all-time home-run record.
Critics can hate Bonds, they can swear that he became a home-run machine through performance-enhancing drugs, but they can't erase 756 home runs.
Not even commissioner Bud Selig, who tried to distance himself from the Steroid Era he helped create by not being in attendance, can erase this record. It stands until the next slugger comes along.
After Bonds left Wrigley Field last month with 753 under his belt, Selig made the most half-hearted pledge possible in trying to be a witness to history, saying in a statement: ''Out of respect for the tradition of this game, the magnitude of the record, and the fact that all citizens in this country are innocent until proven guilty, I will attend Barry Bonds' next games to observe his potential tying and breaking of the home run record.''
The numbers are safe Innocent until proven guilty? Guilty of what? Perjury, the biggest crime that any of us -- including Selig -- knows might be hanging over Bonds' head. Even if Bonds is convicted of perjury, his baseball numbers are safe.
Check baseball's record book. The all-time hits leader: Pete Rose, who has been banned by baseball and who was convicted of tax evasion, serving a prison term in Downstate Marion. There isn't a single asterisk next to any of his records -- and Rose committed the game's biggest sin, gambling on baseball.
Rafael Palmeiro, a slugger who actually was caught by baseball's testing program and suspended, remains a member of baseball's exclusive 500-homer club -- no asterisk attached.
But Selig leaves the impression he might wipe away Bonds' mark should damaging proof surface in the slow-going Mitchell investigation. In fact, Selig's flimsy excuse for not being in San Francisco on Tuesday was that he was meeting with former Sen. George Mitchell in New York to get an update on his probe into steroids in baseball.
If Selig tries to wipe away Bonds' accomplishments, then he'd better go after Mark McGwire and all of the other oversized stars of the Steroid Era. Otherwise, he'd better get used to the idea of Bonds owning what the commissioner has called ''the most hallowed record'' in all of sports.
Put an actual asterisk next to Bonds' name and you might as well do the same for every World Series won in the last 20 years -- unless someone can prove that every member of those championship teams, including the 2005 White Sox, was 100 percent clean.
The fact is much of Bonds' work from 1999 to 2004 -- during a time many of us believe he was juiced -- can't be touched by an asterisk. Baseball had no policy against steroids during this time. You can't break a rule that wasn't there.
Selig points to the little-known provision that using any illegal drugs is a violation of baseball rules. But none of the players caught with marijuana or cocaine or amphetamines in the history of the game has an asterisk next to his numbers.
Look at Detroit Tigers infielder Neifi Perez, the former Cub who is missing 80 games -- maybe the rest of his career -- because he ingested amphetamines, performance-enhancers that were as common as bubblegum in clubhouses during Aaron's era. Perez is serving a stiff penalty, but his numbers won't be erased.
Like it or not, Bonds represents one of baseball's eras that most of us would like to forget.
Babe Ruth belted a record 714 home runs in an era that didn't allow black players. Aaron's era was drastically different from Ruth's -- and just as different from Bonds'. What happened Tuesday night in San Francisco does nothing to weaken Aaron's career. He was the best of his era. Ruth the best of his.
And Bonds the best of his.
Deserving of the honor It would be one thing if Bonds were a unique case, the lone abuser in an otherwise clean game. If you believe that, you're as naive as Selig now claims he was back in the 1990s. Bonds faced something neither Ruth nor Aaron ever had to endure -- a slew of pitchers whose arsenals were enhanced by performance-enhancing drugs.
Love him, hate him, he's still the Home Run King. Ask his peers in clubhouses around baseball. Bonds still gets the ultimate respect.
And if you are a baseball fan, deep down, you know he deserves it.
Need further proof? How about Aaron's classy message congratulating Bonds on the giant screen at AT&T Park? ''It is a great accomplishment which requires skill, longevity and determination,'' Aaron said in the recorded message. ''Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball, and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I'll move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family.''
cdeluca@suntimes.com
Hell, if they had just picked a "disinterested" used car salesman off the streets, they would have been better off. Selig was and is a team owner and as such he has no business being commissioner. I thought it was BS back when he was named "acting" commissioner and MLB made no effort to look for a new commissioner. Then one day, the term "acting" just disappeared, Selig is like one of these third world dictators who puts off elections for thirty years because it isn't "safe" yet.
I just don’t care, anymore.
Same here.
You're not allowed to point that out. Or..
The fact is much of Bonds' work from 1999 to 2004 -- during a time many of us believe he was juiced -- can't be touched by an asterisk. Baseball had no policy against steroids during this time. You can't break a rule that wasn't there.
Bonds is for some reason held to a different standard. I for one congratulate him on his accomplishment and frankly think that video recording by Aaron was a slap in the face. No one from the Aaron family was there like the Maris family was for McGuire and Selig couldn't slink in either.
‘Aaron = great ballplayer but pretty much an ass-wipe in his own right.’
True enough, I recall his bitching about not being the ‘player of the decade’ in the 1970’s.
Then again, he was discriminated against for the first decade of his career, and that would make me a tad bitter as well.
If you compare Bonds HR production in his first five MLB careers (when he wasn’t juiced) to Aaron’s first five years, Bonds has more HR’s per at-bat.
Let me get this straight, on the one hand you say that Bond is the HR king, while on the other you acknowledge that overwhelming probability that he cheated?
“If Selig tries to wipe away Bonds’ accomplishments, then he’d better go after Mark McGwire and all of the other oversized stars of the Steroid Era.”
Works for me.
Full agreement.
"Is She Really Going Out With Him" is a great song and all that, but I don't think that warrants him getting into Cooperstown? ;)
There is one big similarity between Aaron and Bonds, neither of them really helped their teams. The Giants have gone out of their way to help get Bonds get the record and they have done this at the expense of the rest of the team and that is why they have one of the worst records in baseball.
This writer is an idiot. Of course there is no asterisk next to Pete's record—the number of hits he had was not unfairly improved by his gambling habit. Pete's gambling was an ill-advised attempt to make more money, not to cheat his way to a hits record.
I agree 100%. Bonds might have been one of the greatest players in the history of the game without the drugs.
I actually remember that one! Wow, that was a long time ago. 11 years...
That's right. The performance enhancing drugs are merely the difference between a pop-fly and a home run. Bonds is the asterisk king.
And what is with the gloating tone of this schmuck’s article? Is he Barry Bonds’ best friend?
That's fine by me.
And Bonds, like A-Rod, is clubhouse poison, and the reason why most likely neither will ever get a World Series ring.
Just to let you know, from those of us in Peoria, we don’t buy it either!
My 18 year old son, who used to love baseball, won't even watch a game anymore (except for the little league world series). He equates baseball with professional wrestling....
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Bonds will certainly never get a World Series ring, but A-Rod probably will especially if he stays with the Yankees (whether you like the Yankees or hate them, you know their due for another one in the next few years).
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