http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/gamble200603100823.asp
Posted on 03/10/2006 6:20:02 AM PST by Fury
The Bill Clinton of Baseball
Barry Bonds and a sports injustice.
One of the saddest days for baseball purists will occur early in this upcoming season, to be followed by a second, even sadder, day later this year or early next season.
In the first, San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds, who has allegedly been cheating for years by taking massive amounts of performance-enhancing steroids, will hit his 715th home run to surpass the number achieved by Babe Ruth. And, in the second, he will cross home plate after his 756th round-tripper, beating out current home-run king Hank Aaron.
Bonds enters this season with 708 career home runs, including a single-season record 73 in 2001. Eclipsing Ruth is inevitable and will come quickly, and only a career-ending injury will prevent him from leaving Aaron in the dust.
Details of Bonds’s alleged steroid use are outlined in the soon-to-be-published book, Game of Shadows by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, excerpts of which have been printed in Sports Illustrated. The writers lay out a convincing case that Bonds turned himself into a home-run machine using a sophisticated doping regimen that involved taking drugs through pills, injections, drops under his tongue, and skin creams.
They maintain that Bonds was jealous of the attention showered on St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire when he hit a then-record 70 homers in 1998. Convinced that McGwire was using steroids while baseball turned a blind eye, Bonds is reported to have said, “They’re just letting him do it because he’s a white boy.”
Although the great national pastime has been short on heroes for years, save for Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles and a few others, Bonds’s ascension to the home-run heights is particularly distasteful. He has long been one of the surliest, most obnoxious athletes in professional sports, foul-mouthed, childish, and arrogant. He’s also a poor winner, constantly rubbing opposing pitchers’ faces in it by standing still at home plate and admiring each home-run ball as it sails over the fence.
And he’s no prince off the field. Game of Shadows quotes his mistress, Kimberly Bell, as saying she began saving her voicemail messages from Bonds after he threatened her life. She says that on one occasion when she was late meeting him for a tryst at a hotel he put his hands around her throat, put her against a wall and said, “If you ever (expletive) pull some (expletive) like that again I’ll kill you. Do you understand me?”
Will he pay a price for the credible cheating charges that have been made against him? Probably not. Bonds has proven to be the Bill Clinton of baseball, portraying himself as the victim of those out to get him and refusing to take responsibility for his actions. And, at least up until now, the Teflon coating has held firm.
I predict that, when Bonds becomes the all-time home-run champion, there will be no asterisk beside his name in the record book because of probable cheating. He will not be prevented from entering the Baseball Hall of Fame. And, when the Giants make their first appearance before a home crowd this season, Bonds will be greeted by a standing ovation.
We no longer live in the “Say it ain’t so, Joe” era of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and the Black Sox World Series scandal of 1919. We live in an era of, “So what? Everybody does it.”
Like Clinton, Bonds has had his enablers. Authors Fainaru-Wada and Williams report that Giants’s management ignored blatant signs of drug use, including Bonds’s association with a trainer known to be a dealer, so as not to upset their star player. Also ignored was Bonds’s working out at a gym known as a venue where steroids were readily available.
Former Giants manager Dusty Baker, long considered one of baseball’s good guys, says he noticed the physical changes in Bonds but didn’t pursue it. “I’m not a detective. What are you going to do as a manager?” Baker said. Hey, Dusty, when a guy with an average build suddenly starts looking like the Incredible Hulk, maybe you could ask, “Are you on steroids?”
Any observer would have had to be blind not to realize that Bonds was probably benefiting from something other than lifting weights at the gym. Apart from the obvious change in his physical appearance, he’s the only athlete I can think of whose performance actually improved as he got older, rather than tailing off.
If Bonds were just another cheater I wouldn’t be so exercised about the damning charges against him. But what is so galling is that this arrogant jerk, this latest disgrace to the great national pastime, is going into the record book as the greatest home-run hitter of all time. How sad.
— California-based Doug Gamble, a former writer for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, writes for various politicians and corporate executives.
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715*...................
If he is allowed to play this year, I predict lots of chin-music.
Every pitcher in the league should intentionally walk Bonds every at bat.. I know if I was a manager I'd tell my pitching staff to not pitch to him EVER, no matter what... Rather take a loss than do that sort of damage to the game.
In my mind, Barry Bonds' records will be stricken from my mind.
Same with McGwire and Sosa.
Imagine Aaron or Mays on steroids?
What kind of numbers there?
Maybe Ruth was on hotdogs!
The Vast White Boy Conspiracy strikes again.
Now that it has been exposed, Bonds can get back to doing the work of the American people. < /sarcasm >
He may have the record, but, he'll never have respect.
Steroids didn't help Barry Bonds and his OBP. You can't enhance having a better eye for what the pitcher is sending you at 90 mph.
DOn't have anything to add, this says it all.
But the ball he just hit with that eye just flew 370 ft into the stands instead of 320 ft into the Outfielders glove -- thereby upping his HR total and OBP. Thank you for playing.
If some jackass stood at the plate to watch a homerun hit off me, he would see more chin music than the Beijing Symphony.
Congress should never have gotten involved. MLB, the owners and the coaches should have been actively searching out signs in every player. Baseball should police itself. I don't want my tax dollars investigating a sport that is losing its legitimacy... Congress can't prop it up.
Why waste 4 pitches when one will do the trick?
He won't get to the 755 mark. Not this season or ever.
LOL... and watch out for that screen-door.
Well I'm not for hurting anyone.... let him go through the season without 1 pitch.... I think that would put an end to it.
The Giants will not cut him, they won't punish him... the powers that be there let him walk on water.... and San Fran as a city we know has no such thing left as Moral Outrage.... So let him just keep coming to bat and walking to first.. see how long he has to settle for that before he quits in a big ugly stink.
"Steroids didn't help Barry Bonds and his OBP. You can't enhance having a better eye for what the pitcher is sending you at 90 mph."
Depends what juice he was on...Human Growth Hormone enhances eyesight.
an astric will always tag this POS.
Plus you get to see kids genuinely excited about playing the game.
Doug Gamble needs to get out of California more often. Bonds will not make it into the Hall of Fame. Just picture the writers from some midwestern baseball town such as Kansas City reacting to his name on the ballot.
For the most part, America is a moral nation and won't conscience such cheaters.
Hardly...he has very, very few apologists.
His name and records will be forever asterisked.
He should be banned for life from baseball and all his records should be expunged from the books. Look how much damage he has done to the game in the minds of youths just starting out........
They've pretty much been doing that already - ever since the 73 HR season. They only pitch to him when they have no choice.
Stick around. They'll come crawling out soon. Frankly, I'm amazed at the number of people who continue to idolize this a-hole.
I only recall one guy throwing at Bonds in the last few years (Mark Prior). If pitchers start throwing at him now, the league will crack down on the pitchers, throwing them out of the game in the 1st inning and suspending them. If pitchers start intentionally walking him, manager Felipe Alou will move him to the top of the lineup to maximize his at-bats and scoring opportunities.
But I heard on ESPN he has been rehabbing his knee. If someone were to nail him there, hard, it might land him on the DL. However, I doubt there are any NL pitchers with enough love for the game to do it. (David Wells plays in Boston this year)
Who cares if he's covered with Teflon? The Commissioner can ban him permanently just on suspicions.
There is no presumption of innocence or right to due process in baseball.
Through 1998, for instance, when he turned 34, Bonds averaged one home run every 16.1 at bats. Since then -- what the authors identify as the start of his doping regimen -- Bonds has hit home runs nearly twice as frequently (one every 8.5 at bats)...
Not only did the growth hormone keep him fresh, but after complaining in 1999 about difficulty tracking pitches, he noticed it improved his eyesight as well...
That's what I'm saying regardless if it costs them a win or a run... just walk him EVERY SINGLE TIME NO MATTER WHAT.
I have a friend who hung around the AAA level for quite a few years before he finally gave it up and went into the family business. He says that in mlb nowdays if you ain't cheating...you aint't trying...and he was one of the few who didn't! (use some kind of "help") He also felt that because he refused to "bulk up" he could never compete consistently with all those who do...they should drug test everybody...they'd be shocked I'm sure at the results.
The SI article (I've heard) suggests that Bonds began juicing in '98. OK. I suggest his career stats ended right there.
MLB probably won't barr Bonds from playing & eclipsing the numbers of Ruth & Aaron. But the HOF is where the revenge gets taken. Bonds does not get in. If they can keep Rose out, they can keep Bonds out also.
Exactly. That asterisk will always be there in my mind.
You’re right there; I can’t say enough good things about Minor League Baseball. The Frederick Keys are a great night out and you can’t beat sitting in the front row for $11. We’re lucky in MD that we have five Minor League teams.
Sports writer Tom Knott also blames Commissioner Bud Selig for his tacit approval. (The Washington Times, March 10)
Bah, sportswriters are as stupid as regular reporters. Unless MLB bars him from the Hall of Fame, like they have with Rose, enough writers will vote him in.
Heck, until Rose released his book admitting his gambling, wasn't he getting a large number of write-in votes each year?
No doubt Bonds must be stopped. And he must be stopped now. But not for the integrity of baseball. He must be stopped for the safety of the world. See link: http://barrybondsapocalypse.blogspot.com/
"Any observer would have had to be blind not to realize that Bonds was probably benefiting from something other than lifting weights at the gym. Apart from the obvious change in his physical appearance, he’s the only athlete I can think of whose performance actually improved as he got older, rather than tailing off."
Roger Clemens
Another guy who I think is guilty. How does a pitcher keep putting up his kind of numbers in his late thirties, now forties? Something's not right.
Resurrected his career in Toronto after Boston gave up on him. Coincidentally, Jose Canseco was a teammate on the Blue Jays.
At an exhibition game, there were a few cheers and one man, probably representing the steroid crowd, shouted, "We love you, Barry!" There also were reportedly lots of boos.
So all those fly balls that used to be caught on the warning track that after 98 were "juiced" over the wall don't count?
I agree. Don't hit him. Humiliate him with 4 pitches in the dirt. Bonds should not have the opportunity to hit a ML baseball again.
"What more can you say?"
PLENTY!
Check this out!
"Shortly before the contents of the Bonds book were revealed, baseball made the unsettling announcement that teams would begin selling approved supplements to players to help them avoid positive drug tests."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1592376/posts
Bob Gibson's take on Babe Ruth pointing toward the field where he would hit a home run. Bob said they would have buried Babe at home plate if he had been pitching.
There's nothing like sitting up real close to the field in a small stadium so that you can the details of the game. Many people don't realize how good minor league players are in terms of athleticism. For people who were intermediate-good ahtletes, it's a real joy to watch/observe the fluid ability of players who are in their element.
Tell me about it. I go up to Atlanta 2-3 times a year and watch the Braves. It is always a fun trip for me and the kids, but Turner Field doesn't even come close to Riverwalk Stadium for atmosphere and sheer enjoyment of the game.
THere is something magical about hearing the bat tap the plate, hearing the players cleats scrap the ground as he digs in, hearing the catcher tap his glove, and then actually seeing the rotation of the ball as it leaves the pitchers hand allowing you to guess the pitch along with the batter. Everything is magnified in a small park, the sounds , the smells, everything. It is a little bit of heaven.
I read the excerpt on SI.com - an interesting tidbit is that Bond's steriod dealer was getting some of the drugs he gave Bonds (HGH is one mentioned, I believe) from AIDS patients who were selling what they were getting for free (or highly subsidized).
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