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Printer-Friendly ModeBonds still a Hall of Famer, but respect is lost
March 27, 2006 —
I have never liked Barry Bonds.
Despite the fact that he's a complete jackass - probably the one thing I think we can all agree on - my reasons for disliking him did not concern his personality. That would not be very consistent of me; I did write a pro-Ron Artest column over a year ago after the brawl happened. It all stems from the fact that I have been an Atlanta Braves fan for much of my life. I'd rather not get into a discussion about the Braves' ability to choke away championship after championship, so seeing as the Braves' top rivals in the early 1990s were the Pittsburgh Pirates (which Bonds played for) and the San Francisco Giants (the team Bonds moved to in 1993), Bonds has been enemy number one since I was in second grade.
But just because I loved to hate the guy did not mean I didn't respect him. That changed on March 10, when after spending eight days in Arizona, I finally got my hands on the March 6 edition of Sports Illustrated that had the sports world going batty. That issue features an excerpt from the book "Game of Shadows," written by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, that outlines, among other things, Bonds' alleged steroid use. The writers claim that Bonds began using designer steroids after the 1998 season, which not coincidentally was the same season Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa had America wrapped around their finger as they chased the home run record. The book alleges that Bonds was jealous and set out to become the best hitter in baseball history.
Well, mission accomplished. Despite the book, despite the accusations made both by fellow baseball players and those close to Bonds, he is still considered one of the best - if not the best - hitter in baseball history.
At 708 home runs, he is six shy of passing Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time list and 48 shy of breaking Hank Aaron's record of 755. He has won seven MVPs and three batting titles and has walked a gazillion times the last several years. But according to "Shadows," he's done it since the 1999 season while taking steroids.
Last year around this time of the year, I wrote a column emphasizing that because baseball did not have a steroid policy at the time Bonds broke the home run record in 2001 and McGwire and Sosa did their damage in 1998, whoever used steroids at those times should simply be left alone because they did not break any MLB rules. And I still stand by that - regardless of what "Shadows" says, Bonds has not failed a drug test and therefore should not be fined, suspended, or removed from MLB. And until he does, the records he has broken and the home runs he has hit should remain in the record books.
When I picked up my copy of SI in the St. Louis airport, I did so figuring I would not read anything new about the situation - that everything there was to know about the issue had already been reported. And under that assumption, I went in thinking that despite my dislike for the man, Bonds had not really done much wrong. I'm not one to admit being wrong too often, but as I made my way through the excerpt, I found myself shaking my head time after time learning of the extremes Bonds went to simply be better than McGwire and Sosa. Without going into specifics - the excerpt is available for free online at SI.com - my thoughts on Bonds' innocence (I still did not completely believe he was guilty) were gone. Those thoughts were replaced with more reasons to hate a man who garners more attention on SportsCenter when he misses a game than the Detroit Tigers throughout an entire season.
What is most disheartening is the fact that after the 1998 season, when he began taking steroids, Bonds could have retired and would have been a first ballot Hall of Famer. He already had three MVP awards. Short of Ken Griffey, Jr., he was the best outfielder in the game. It seems that most people forget this; obviously, what the man has done the last seven seasons shadows what he did before that. It is unfortunate that Bonds is the one who has altered our memories of him.
Look, Barry Bonds is a Hall of Famer. I would still vote for him the first time he was up for election to the Hall. But his jealousy and selfishness led him to cheat. When he hits home run number 716, probably some time late next month or early May, and possibly even number 756 late this season or in 2007, how he got there so late in his career should be remembered.