If baseball commissioner Bud Selig has his way, Barry Bonds 714th home run trot will happen in utter silence. The crowds will not cheer, jeer, or mark the occasion with an excited breath. It will be just another baseball moment, like so many, undistinguished, unrecognized. Sadly, baseball is pretending Barry Bonds is not a superstar, that equaling Babe Ruths all time home run record is a tarnished achievement, because Bonds may have taken steroids. This is utterly stupid, and its bad for baseball. Bonds real crime is that he has been an outspoken, self-promoting, defensive iconoclast. He has been arrogant. Well, I think many of us qualify for that label, but we still seek and obtain occasional honors and awards. Ty Cobb, arguably one of the best ballplayers to ever don a uniform, was, if you believe rumor and biography, one of the most despicable persons in the game. He wasnt torn down for it. But Selig and other Bonds detractors should do a little math. Exactly how many of his homers were juiced by superhuman strength? Possibly, he was enhanced over the course of a few memorable seasons, but the benefit he got from drugs was at best, marginal. Did he hit 20 more, 30, or 50? We do know one thing. His career hasnt been a lie, or anything to be ashamed of. The big lie, now, is that this excellent athlete is being shunned by the game that his celebrity and performance have served long and well, long before designer steroids came into fashion. And by the way, the muscle and talent that are rocketing his shots out of the park now, come from a place that Selig and company will never understand. |
