Leave Bonds alone

Departing from gospel music briefly to address another burning issue in another pastime of mine, sports...

The time is drawing closer when another long time, hallowed sports record is about to be broken.

Namely, the baseball record for all-time home runs, officially held by one of baseball's undisputed all time greats, Hank Aaron.

It may be the all-time major league record, but it is not the alltime professional record.

That would be held by Japan's Sadaharu Oh, who hit over 800 home runs in his long career in the land of the Rising Sun.

But the records held in the American major leagues are the accepted standard for players to shoot at. And besides, neither Aaron nor Barry Bonds ever played in Japanese professional leagues.

No, I'm speaking of Bonds' chase of Aaron's record, which heading into this weekend he is only two shy of tying and three away from breaking.

Under normal circumstances, the majority of the nation's baseball fans would be rooting madly for Bonds to smash the record ASAP.

But these are not normal circumstances. Why?

Because of a widely held belief, propped up by most sports media who have personal axes to grind with Bonds, that Bonds is a "cheater"...i.e., that he hasn't gotten to where he is fairly.

Why is that? Because Bonds is almost a media poster boy for excessive steroid use. People look at the young Bonds of the early 1990s with the Pittsburgh Pirates, young and relatively lean and not putting up huge home run numbers, and compare him to the Bonds of today, considerably larger and probably stronger, and certainly a player that has hit with unprecedented power totals for the last decade or so, and conclude that to hit home runs the way he has of late, that he must have done something unethical or illegal to do so.

Is there proof of that? Unless you cite some leaked testimony to a grand jury where Bonds admitted to having used two brands of steroids(although claiming to not know what they did or were for), which CANNOT be admitted as evidence in a court of law, there is none. Bonds has yet to fail a drug test.

Besides, even if one concedes that he did use steroids at that time, there's still no proof of Bonds "cheating" even then. Consider....

1. That at that time, steroids were not illegal in baseball. They and other supplements were all over the place...just ask Mark McGwire.

2. Most baseball experts say that the major reason Bonds hits for such power is his quick swing, and his unparalleled eye/hand coordination....neither of which are benefitted by the use of steroids. You'd think if Bonds were trying to "cheat", he'd use something that would directly help him hit home runs.

3. All the games Bonds has played in were under the governing rules of baseball at the time they were played. If there was a real rule violation, opposing managers would have played those games under protest, and a ruling would have been made on the protest according to the rules of baseball. No manager or opposing team official ever tried to get games that Bonds played in forfeited. Therefore, the home runs Bonds hit in those games are legitimate, and deserve to be recognized as such.

4. It is not unusual at all for players to hit for far more power as they age. In the case of Hank Aaron, his most productive home run years were after he reached the age of 35. It is more common than not for older players to hit for more power after their other skills go away with age. Another example...Reggie Jackson, who, when he was young, not only hit for power, but had dazzling speed, and was a first-rate outfielder. By the time Jackson ended his career with the Angels, all he could do was hit the occasional home run.

So how did Bonds cheat, exactly?

I don't know...and if Bonds' vociferous critics were honest, they'd admit they don't know either. Like many of us who grew up with an earlier generation of players, their successors just weren't as good as the people we like.(This line of reasoning stretches into gospel music as well!). I grew up with the likes of Aaron, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle...and what you hear from many is that if Bonds had to play baseball under the conditions that those other men did, he would not even be close to their achievements.

Maybe...maybe not. But we can't know that, can we? What we do know is that Bonds is playing now, and that now he is only two short of Aaron's record.

There is a lot of personal resentment of Bonds...based on his surly and rude attitude toward some of those in the media whose job it is to report on him, and to some fans as well on occasion. I can't argue with that, or defend Bonds for being unnecessarily rude.

But you know what? Bonds has lots of predecessors in that regard. Babe Ruth was often loud, profane, tacky, and drunk! The great Ted Williams hated sportswriters...I wish I could quote the joke he told about them once, but I can't use those kinds of words in this blog...and I don't normally use them anyway. Ty Cobb was a racist and a thug during games, sometimes trying to injure players deliberately to win games.

So Bonds gets annoyed sometimes when sports reporters press him for answers about his steroid use, or why he's not more friendly. Don't WE do that sometimes? I don't know about you, but I admit I do!

Let's face it...Barry Bonds is an all-too-human being who is good at hitting home runs, and has hit more of them than any major league baseball player except for Hank Aaron, and that will change before this season is over.

Many baseball fans don't like that, but guess what...life is full of things we don't like.

As for Barry Bonds, until it is PROVEN that he has "cheated", accept his accomplishments, and deal with it!

Page 1 of 1 pages

Comments

Add Comments

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Please enter the word you see in the image below:

* Note: Members of Southern Gospel News.com who are logged in do not have to fill in the above information each time they post

By posting you agree to our Comments Policy

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?