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
Uh...been watching any TV the last 12 hours?
That’s the darn truth. He is a phenomenal hitter.
Bonds is a loser and is still a loser.
He didn’t break any record. It is that simple, regardless of the numbers.
I read something a few days ago that tried to compare the booing that Bonds gets in every city except SF with the racist hate mail and booing that Aaron got back in his day.
“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.”
I’m a critic. Performance-enhancing drugs, you say?
Have you ever seen a man go through a growth spurt in his thirties??
Baseball is getting another self-delivered black eye.
Interestingly, it appears as if Ol’ Hank has come over to Barry’s side. Maybe Michael Jordan did it to him.
Not so fast, Chris. . .
In the story of Barry Bonds; perception is reality.
The score is real. The record is broken; a written history is altered.
But Barry Bonds legacy rises out of doubt, scepticism and scandal. And that will give rise to a competing reality; and there is no taking that away, either.
Barry is the source of both; and he will have to live it.
I think it will probably be Alex Rodriguez who ultimately winds up with the record.
Last I heard from him he didn't want to be anywhere near Bonds when the record was beaten. (Interview from SI a few weeks back.)
Well, I disagree right from the start of the article. I'd much rather see a run at a .400 season or consecutive games with a hit record. And that is just on batting side of the game.
????? What pray tell is the:
1ST MOST CONTROVERSIAL HOME RUN IN BASEBALL HISTORY??????
Don't you love it when writers can just blow past the obvious to attempt the ridiculous?
Go Alex Rodriquez!
And to think Joe Jackson is still not in Cooperstown.
I love how critics just blow past the issue:
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.
I have no feelings about Bonds whatsoever. I just think that he's being tarnished because he's not a media suck-up.
What is the 1st most controversial homer in history?
Pete Rose should be in the HOF... say, one day after his funeral. I’m serious, I think that a “lifetime ban” should mean exactly that.
Let Pete know that after he dies he is in, but because of his actions and (more importantly) his attitude, he will never live to see it.
As for Bonds...
I don’t care for him and I think it is very probable that he was using substances that are banned today from baseball. But if he was using them before they were banned, I see no reason to star his record.
Some call it “cheating”, but playing by the rules, even when the rules change later, is not cheating. It may be unethical, but it’s not cheating.
Baseball can say Barry Bonds deserves the record, but they can’t make me care.
Frankly, I was surprised to find out that Barry Bonds held the single-season home run record. In all this flurry over 756, I saw that in a story. I realized that I had discounted that record in my mind, because I knew it tainted. I simply did not care that Barry Bonds had broken that record.
I will not care that he has broken this one, either. I fully expect that five years from now I will have no idea who is the current record holder for most home runs in a career. I will be able to picture Hank Aaron’s record blast in my mind for the rest of my life, but I have not even bothered to turn on the TV to see Barry Bond’s 756th home run.
I just don’t care, anymore.
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