Bonds is a classic "other team's bad guy" and he since he's big, black, mean-looking, and plays in "that gay city" too, he must be the only problem.
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
Yep, even around here some people are trying to say that Bonds is a subject of racism. Even the most racist whites have long ago accepted the greatness of non-white athletes.
Then why did you take all the time to type out that post? ;)
Bonds is a classic "other team's bad guy" and he since he's big, black, mean-looking, and plays in "that gay city" too, he must be the only problem.
Jeffrey Maier?
I think Aaron’s tribute was more a statement of Hank’s class and love of baseball than anything else. For him not to give some form of tribute would have created a perception that he was bitter about no longer holding the record.
That's exactly it. The Keith Olbermann-wannabe sportswriters are leading the attacks, while real athletes like Mike Schmidt, Tony Gwynn, and Dusty Baker are all firmly backing Bonds.
What do you mean by that?
Thanks... I think?
No. And I will not.
I could not care less.
The record-keeping aspect of baseball is dead to me. It is a fond memory of my youth, but I recognize that it is an anachronism.
I still want the Yankees to beat the tar out of the Bosox, but even that fades with every passing year.
I thought it belonged to Cy Young?
Agree. This will be short lived, A-Rod will pass BB in the years to come.
There is no way that any of BB HRs will ever be taken away. How could they? If they take them away from Bonds, then they would have to take them away from the games in which they were hit. Then the score changes. Wins/Losses change. It has a domino effect.
756 and counting. I’m glad BB has done it, now the media can get back to following the game and the pennant races.
I remember Barrack Obama made the statement a few months back that if people didn't vote for him because of his stance on political issues, then they wouldn't vote for him because he was black.
So... if you don't agree with someone, you must be a bigot?!
It seems that is where the left wants to take that argument today.
“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.”
I’d be willing to bet that over 50% of players were using. I put the blame on Bud Selig.
GO TRIBE!
I find it quite sad that I do not care. I care that I do not care, if you will. I have enjoyed baseball for many years. But that is all over now.
Call it a grieving process.
Hank Aaron was a neighbor of ours when he was with Milwaukee. We had a tremendous amount of respect for him, and his family.
I will never forget Hank Aaron's home run to surpass the record. I couldn't care less about Bonds, and chose not to watch the game.
I wonder what the ratings were for last night’s game. I would wager that they were not all that much higher than for any other game. They probably came in behind American Idol re-runs, even in San Francisco.
I was never a Reds fan or a big fan of Pete Rose until he was banned from baseball and the hall of fame. Pete Rose is baseball’s greatest player, not just because he holds the RBI record which stood since Ty Cobb set it back when the fat guy hit all those home runs, but because of how he played his position and how he played for his team. He loved baseball.
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