IN DEFENSE OF BARRY BONDS
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Barry Bonds took steroids. I feel like I have to say that before I tell you why he is not the villain that the media and more importantly Major League Baseball would like you to believe he is. As you should know by now, Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron's hallowed home run record this weekend and, barring something strange, he will become baseball's all time king of the long ball. I will be the first to admit that I am not a fan of Barry Bonds. I always thought he was the second best baseball player in the modern era, second only to the incomparable Ken Griffey Jr. That being said, this weekend pissed me off.
Barry is, unquestionably, one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He won 3 MVP awards with a Gumby-shaped body so when he started to get huge it was obvious that he would only get better. Do I think he would be breaking this record without the help of steroids? No, he would most likely be retired and would have finished up with around 650 home runs. He would have been, and still will be, a first ballot Hall of Famer and would have been known as the best left fielder in history. This was not enough for Barry and I don't blame him. I do think that before I tell you why Barry is not to blame for the steroid laced cloud that hangs over baseball.
In 1998, baseball was abuzz with the exploits of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. They simultaneously made a run at Roger Maris's single season home run record. It made for great television and was a welcome bit of publicity for a league still recovering from the work stoppage of 1994. If you go back and look at an almanac and look for the World Series champion for 1994, you will not find one. There was no World Series. A season without a champion? This disgrace was brought on by millionaire players fighting with billionaire owners. Needless to say, attendance and interest in the game was waning and had not fully recovered by 1998. When McGwire and Sosa went on their run at history the powers that be must have breathed a sigh of relief, finally the game had recaptured the interest of the general public. All the while, there was a storm brewing beneath the surface of baseball. The skepticism, while a distant murmur persisted. Some wondered aloud “Why had, all of the sudden, a record that had stood unchallenged for 40 years been passed up by two somewhat pedestrian sluggers?”. For me personally I knew the answer...McGwire and Sosa had juiced themselves silly. It was so plainly obvious to me and anyone who knows anything about steroids. But the lovefest continued and players noticed.
This all made me sick. Not because two players were gathering so much attention. It sickened me because I knew that both McGwire and especially Sosa were average players before they hit the sauce. McGwire was an injury prone strikeout machine who just happened to come up to the majors along side noted steroid user Jose Canseco. His entire career was predicated on steroids. Sammy Sosa took a different path. He was a fleet footed prospect who had bounced around the league before landing in Chicago with the Cubs. In 1997, he had a big year and I noticed that he had gained about 40 lbs or so and I knew what had happened. If you don't believe me, go look at the idiot's career stats You will notice an explosion of home runs from 1998-2002 and then when the steroid story hit...the numbers dropped instantly. He was, and is a joke. I was not the only person who knew this.
Sometime in the offseason following the 1998 season, two legends who happen to be friends were talking aloud about the supposedly amazing exploits of Mark and Sammy. They laughed about how two players who were so inferior to them grabbing all the limelight and accolades. They wondered about what would happen if they went down the McGwire-Sosa path. They didn't wonder about what was going on, they knew. These two men were none other than Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. It was then that Barry had decided to show these two bums who was the best. In his mind, he was and he was right. Barry had won 3 Most Valuable Player awards and countless Gold Gloves but for him being one of the best was not enough. Like I said before, I do not blame him for taking the steroid path. After a year or two of building his body into a mass of veiny muscle he exploded for 73 home runs in a season. He was the most feared hitter in the history of baseball. He was walked nearly 200 times the following season only to follow it up with 232 walks in 2004 . His numbers speak for themselves. His run from 2000 to 2005 was unprecedented. He had cast his lot. He decided that he would be the best ever and his numbers make that case.
I do feel a bit for Henry Aaron. He is a legitimate legend. He broke the records of the greatest baseball player in history, Babe Ruth. He played in an era free of steroids. On the other hand, he played in an era of pitchers without drugs. In other words, he was playing against the best baseball had to offer, just like Bonds. The fact that he did not take steroids does not make his record any more real in my mind. Nor should it in yours.
The blame for the fog of suspicion in modern baseball lies with the caretakers of the game, the owners and their appointed leader, the Commissioner. If I, a 21 year old baseball fan, knew that players were taking drugs to boost their performance surely they knew. Instead of doing something about it, they continued with a no testing policy until 2003. They were the only major sport to not even pretend they had a policy in place. Why? They know that people love home runs and big, strong men accomplishing things that none of us can imagine. Most fans don't want to believe that their heroes are taking steroids but they also want them to do things that are not possible without these drugs. It is what I call the Fan Paradox.
There is no better example of this than the National Football League, the strongest league in the US. While their players get bigger, faster and stronger every year steroids are not an important issue. Why? The NFL has been smart about their stance on performance enhancing drugs. They have been clear that they do not tolerate it and they brag about their stringent doping policy. Of course, I don't believe that any sport actually tests its players in any organized way but at least they paid lip service to drug testing. To this day, even in the face of evidence that handfuls of NFL players were involved with BALCO, Bonds's supplier, the average fan does not equate the NFL with steroids. That is, of course, a hilarious joke. The NFL is by far the most drug laded major professional sport but for some reason no one is willing to say that. Why? The stated anti-drug policy keeps people from thinking about it.
Baseball’s attitude towards Bonds’s pursuit of Aaron has been a mockery. Commissioner Selig had made it known that he was not too excited about Barry breaking this record and his actions only serve to reinforce that idea. He said that “he was not sure” if you would be able to make it to the games. Given the fact that this record is the most important in all of sports, the absence of the Commissioner speaks volumes to the contempt Major League Baseball has towards Bonds. I find it ironic that baseball celebrates the McGwire/Sosa debacle while turning their heads when it comes to Bonds. The hypocrisy of baseball in this situation is incredible. They want to distance themselves from Bonds while pointing their fingers at him as a pariah. He is merely a monster that baseball created.
Bonds hit his 755th home run of off Clay Hensley. Hensley was suspended for steroid use in the minor leagues a couple of years back. Isn’t it ironic that a pitcher who is a known user gave up home run #755 to Bonds. Watching Selig’s reaction made me want to puke. He stood there, hands crossed, making sure not to clap. He, and his fellow owners, raked in the money that this era created and yet they pretend that they are not associated with it. I have a message for MLB. Either decide that you will not recognize what Bonds has accomplished or embrace it. Make a decision! The duplicity is typically of the hand-wringing pussies they are.
Fans of professional sports do not want drug free athletes. They pay top dollar to be entertained and for the most part, they are. If you want to be mad about Barry Bonds breaking the most hallowed record in sports, do not direct your scorn at Barry. Direct your vitriol at Bud Selig and his marry band of followers, the owners. They failed in keeping the suspension of disbelief alive by not having a testing policy in place. They collected the monstrous revenues and turned their collective heads. Barry did nothing but do his absolute best which just happened to be better than anyone else's best. Congratulations Barry! Can't wait to see #756!!
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