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
Yawn, bonds is a drug user and a fraud
I believe using steroids without a doctor’s perscription was illegal even before baseball began testing for it. That’s why there was a grand jury involved, not because of MLB’s rules.
The sad thing is, that if Bonds had just stayed clean and played the game, he might have gotten there on his merits. Now we will never know.
He only needs about five or six more seasons.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that Bonds is a much bigger jerk than Rose.
They’d be chasing Tony Conigliaro’s projected 800 home runs if he didn’t get beaned.
So this backing of Bonds, a juiced-up roid-head who obviously is guilty of cheating and bringing shame to the game, is no suprise.
You must be Barry’s brother.
Bonds has been a self-centered jerk since he broke into the league. He has NEVER been liked by major league fans in general, nor by most of his teammates.
He has been wearing that monster brace, THAT NO ONE ELSE IN THE LEAGUE CAN WEAR, for the past 6-8 years. There was a terrific article on FR yesterday about how that brace helps him hit.
Bonds OBVIOUSLY hit the steroids. Everybody knows it. It was testified to in the leaked grand jury proceedings.
Don’t try to feed us a crap sandwich and tell us it is roast beef.
Bonds is a roided up jerk that 95% of baseball doesn’t like. And it would be that way whether he was breaking home run records or not.
IIRC, it was a "Gofer pitch" for the single season HR record.
Aaron took 12,364 at-bats to hit 755 homers.
Bonds hit his 756th after 9,774 at-bats (20% fewer than Aaron).
Any way you slice it, Bonds is the HR king.
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.
If you compare Bonds HR production in his first five MLB years (when he wasn’t juiced) to Aaron’s first five years, Bonds has more HR’s per at-bat.
1. Bonds has always been a punk. Since 1997 he’s been a very large punk. And his ‘teamates’ while bashful to say anything publicly (roid rage fears, perhaps?) aren’t bashful about saying it privately. I’ve talked to two of them over the past decade, and heard of others. So has this reporter I suspect, which causes me to ask why he’s making things up....
2. Hank Aaron’s ‘message’ was reminicent of the Wizard of Oz, the guy ‘behind the curtain’. Whats revealing is Aaron wasn’t there. I saw Aaron tie the record here in Cincy. I can’t escape the contrast between his class act, and Bonds chemically enhanced egomania.
3. Selig will be remembered as the clown that killed baseball as ‘The National Pasttime’. This is what happens when you appoint a used car salesman MLB Commissioner.
Baseball KNEW in 1997 steriods were beings used throughout the league, and DID NOTHING.
Its no longer a sport, any more than the Soviet Block East Germany’s women’s swimming team was made up exclusively of females.
Contrats, Mr Selig, Congrats Mr Bonds. You killed the game I loved as a kid as surely as an eskimo kills a baby seal, just not as cleanly.
Ah, the old "Hey, it's unethical but legal" argument. No controlling legal authority. Bill Clinton and friends would be proud.
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.
What Pete Rose did was deplorable; however, there is absolutely no link between his crimes and his record — betting on the game doesn’t help you get a hit.
Yep.
But what many don’t realize is Balco was at the heart of the so called ‘betting scandal’.
‘Pete should be in the hall of fame....though he should not be allowed to work in the game in any capacity.’
Couldn’t disagree more. He lied, he destroyed other peoples lives, then ‘came clean’ after others had taken the fall, and blame, for over a decade.
On my flight back from Vegas last month, there was Pete Rose.......
Oh, btw, everybody around him in his ‘social circle’ was selling Balco steroids illegally. and there is simply no way he wasn’t aware of it.
That is my opinion as well... Pete earned his records - and was a truly great player. He should be acknowledged for that. As has been said, his records are not in any way improved or given the steroid treatment by his crime.
And we know that how? Everybody around him was selling Balco steriods illegally. Its in all the transcripts.
Aaron = great ballplayer but pretty much an ass-wipe in his own right.
He was never a "slugger" in its true sense. He was a line-drive hitter who happened to play home games in small ballparks for most of his career. He never hit more than 44 home runs in a season, but was a model of consistency throughout his 23-year career.
Most baseball fans may not even realize that he finished his career with nearly 3,800 hits . . . which puts him #3 on the all-time list behind Pete Rose and Ty Cobb.
Even Barry Bonds in his steroid-enhanced state will be lucky to reach the 3,000-hit milestone.
Interestingly, it appears as if Ol’ Hank has come over to Barry’s side.
Aaron is doing the only thing important to him, trying to help the game he loves, dispite this travesty.
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