Move over, Jose Canseco. Another player who admitted to using “stuff” to enhance his game wants to join in on pointing fingers at who’s to blame as Major League Baseball continues to battle league-wide drug abuse issues.
In a report by USA TODAY, Yankees first-baseman Jason Giambi – a man who should feel obligated to send portions of his career earnings to the Save BALCO Bums Campaign* (campaign juice/funds provided by anonymous donors) — called out the MLB for not apologizing to its fans long ago (from the USA TODAY report):
“I was wrong for doing that stuff,” Giambi told USA TODAY on Wednesday before playing the Chicago White Sox. “What we should have done a long time ago was stand up — players, ownership, everybody — and said: ‘We made a mistake.’
“We should have apologized back then and made sure we had a rule in place and gone forward. … Steroids and all of that was a part of history. But it was a topic that everybody wanted to avoid. Nobody wanted to talk about it.”
When asked why he used steroids, Giambi replied:
“Maybe one day I’ll talk about it, but not now.”
Now that is full disclosure the MLB must envy, especially coming from Giambi, a man of infallable integrity.
So maybe Giambi expects the league to look past the asterisk behind his name and take in his opinion because, as one can assume, everyone cares about his steroid-related opinions — he is, after all, an expert.
Had the league scheduled an apology right after Giambi’s, in 2005, they would be better off today, according to the slugger.
Giambi’s apology was one politicians write on a daily basis. What’d he apologize for? For taking… well, he couldn’t get into specifics. He just knew he was sorry.
After the most absurd apology in history (after Bill Clinton’s “Ya’ll caught me… finally” apology to end the Lewinski scandal), the MLB accepted Giambi back into the league as a known “cheater” and did nothing to punish the records he attained while he admittedly using “stuff.” And after an impressive allegedly “steroid-free” 2005 campaign, a year after discovering he suffered from a benign tumor (also known as a ”steroid bubble” in some insider circles), he received the 2005 MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Kids - live your dreams! (I’m assuming kids are the correct audience, and who the entire steroids issue is all about, right?) One day, you too can cheat your way to the top and criticize the people who continue to ignore follow cheaters like you!
There’s a saying - ”Don’t bite the hand that fed you.” The MLB should feel betrayed by Giambi’s latest comments. It was the league who helped feed Giambi (and his brother) millions of dollars, even when first hearing of his link to steroid use. Back in December 2004 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Giambi told a grand jury investigating BALCO in 2003 he used steroids and growth hormone. Only after the testimony leaked, he felt obligated to apologize.
Now, Giambi sits atop a holier-than-thou position, telling the league to apologize for going easy on players like himself.
How would Giambi feel that same MLB apology included a hard-line against the records of admitted steroid users? This would mean immediate “Delete” button uses of the two major whistleblowers, Giambi and Canseco. Not included: possible retro payment lawsuits for earning fraudulent dollars from the league by way of cheating. (Not so sure this is possible, but it’s a thought.)
Players like Giambi are fun to watch - in press conferences and media quote pages. They admit to a vague list of items like “stuff” and “things” but point fingers at the biggest entity and say “they made me do it!”
The MLB lost control of the entire steroids/performance enhancers issue a long time ago. But Giambi, of all people, is in absolutely no place to call anyone out. If anything, he should send flowers, a “Thank You” card and chocolates over to the league who did not throw him under the bus back in December 2004.
I know a certain slugger in San Francisco who would kill to get the Giambi treatment, but he never will. So Giambi should do himself a favor and keep his mouth shut.
Another line of advice comes from something an old grade school teacher once told me - “When you point your finger at someone, remember, there are three other fingers pointing right back at you.”
*Please Note: Save BALCO Bums Campaign is not a real campaign as far as I know, although its existence is not at all too far-fetched.
Baseball
Football
Go read these things, sucka:
The humidity isn’t the only depressing part of the summer.
Take a look at summer sports.
The USA Olympic team is finally assembled and scrimmaging countries throughout the world. After the fall from grace the previous USA team took, it will take a lot more than just Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony and young NBA superstars on the roster to make fans tune into a scrimmage. Even though his name is missing from the roster, surely Allen Iverson could eloquently put how important these “practices” are. I bet you even he’s not at home watching. (That may actually be because of the aforementioned roster invite snub… so maybe he doesn’t count so much)
The same goes for NFL preseason exhibitions. Flicking through channels Monday night, I ended up on a local sports network, CSN, re-airing Saturday’s Redskins/Ravens scrimmage. I threw together all the reasons for any game hype: Two local teams living within the same Beltway, sharing fans across the DC Metro area. Both teams sporting new acquisitions on each side of the field meant to upgrade their season outlook tremendously. That, combined with this being the first DC NFL action (Sean Taylor trial and charge updates do not count) since February, could only lead to excitement for summer professional football. Right?
Wrong. Again, think A.I. We’re talking about a scrimmage.
The Tour de France finally ended without seven-time champ, Lance Armstrong, atop the leaderboard. Problem is, a goofy Kid Rock look-a-like won and tested positive not once, but twice for an enhanced testosterone level. Way to make us all proud to be Americans, Mr. Floyd Landis. Really. And as for viewers of the Tour? Seriously, they ride bikes… for hours at a time. Even if a coverage of the sport could be found, most likely on an obscure channel like ESPN 8, “The Ocho,” nobody with free will would purposely watch it.
The X-Games provided for quality entertainment Saturday if you took the time to sit down to watch the events all day on ESPN. I did not but without looking at ratings I can guarantee that at the very least, 9 out of 10 people found something better to do also. Lucky for us, Sportscenter and YouTube.com provide us with the single-best highlight of the weekend – the Evil Kinevil-like stunt performed by Travis Pastrana. I am very glad video highlights exist, because convincing me that a person riding a dirt bike landed a double back flip would have taken – as they say in the Sandlot – for-e-ver.
Golf rarely gets to compete in the “most exciting” category, but viewers were quite grateful when Tiger Woods resumed PGA competition after time off following the death of his father, Earl Woods. When Tiger is on TV, I watch golf. So do millions of others. But, again, I’d love to hear an argument for how golf “spices up” summer sporting. Please. Send it to me.
Finally, the most exciting sport of the summer just happens to be the same sport in the midst of the most questions of integrity.
Major League Baseball is still investigating steroids in the sport. Barry Bonds has yet to be indicted by a grand jury on perjury or tax evasion charges, no matter how hard it seems the Feds try. Any time a long home run is hit, speculation arises – rightfully so – as to whether they have connections to illegal performance enhancers. And then there’s Jose Canseco who won’t stay out of the public spotlight, no matter how much the baseball world acknowledges that he may turn out to be the most credible player source on steroids (a very scary, but true, reality).
Looking past all of that, baseball is as exciting as ever. And by exciting I mean as exciting as it possibly can now that they are supposedly in the “post-steroids era.” If you are still talking about juicers in baseball, give it up. That was, like, so last year.
This year there are actual lively races in both the American League and National League for the MVP, Cy Young and Comeback Player of the Year awards. Young pitchers Francisco Liriano (does anybody else think he looks a little bit like David from MTV’s The Real World New Orleans?), Jonathon Papelbon and Jered Weaver show promise for tomorrow’s flamethrowers, while David Wright, Ryan Zimmerman and Joe Mauer do the same for position players under 25.
And the Wild Card races in both leagues can’t get any closer. While the Twins, White Sox and Red Sox battle for the AL Wild Card, 10 teams are within 6 games of the final NL spots. The possibility of either the Yankees or Red Sox missing the playoffs always adds a little extra pep to any wild card chase, since there would surely be shake-ups in both locker rooms if such an unspeakable event took place.
But still, as much as baseball takes the crown as the summer’s most exciting sport, I can’t say that it is like any other year. Before we were fooled that the sport was clean. This time around it is very different. The balls fly out of the park and yes, we still cheer aloud, but deep down inside we say, “I bet that guy’s using an enhancer.”
It will be a long time until we can say for sure but even still, the king is crowned.
It came down to the wire, and impatience was the easiest acquisition to come by as the 4pm EST MLB trade deadline loomed.
Washington Nationals general manager Jim Bowden had all but packed Alphonso Soriano’s bags and had yet to give him a plane ticket complete with a destination. Numerous teams throughout the past month threw deals the Nats’ way involving young pitching, which Bowden placed atop the list of Nats’ needs to become a better team. Bowden even boasted to reporters earlier in the week, making reference that all but 2 of the other MLB teams had contacted him for some trade or another. All he needed to do was simply say “Yes” to one of the voices on the other line and it would all be over.
But as the deadline came and went, no news meant Bowden couldn’t, as they say, pull the trigger.
Apparently teams didn’t have the “bullets” to make it happen.
Or so ESPN.com’s Jason Stark reported on the ESPN.com live chatroom “The Show.” The Oakland Athletics were the latest squad to step into the Sori Sweepstakes, but were told they “didn’t have the bullets” to land the Nats’ star player.
Another possible option involved a three team trade between the Marlins, Tigers and Nationals, but, much like all of the other offers on the day, it fell through.
And then the news became official, less than an hour after the trade deadline: Sori stays.
“We felt the best deal we could make is no deal,” Nats GM Jim Bowden stated in a conference call with reporters from San Francisco. “He wants to stay in D.C. and did not want to be traded.”
For a moment, Bowden’s old tune in the days/weeks/months prior of big and bad smug GM disappeared and he almost seemed like he wanted to keep the star player around.
And then came the more typical GM, “We do love Alfonso and what he’s done for our team and what he means to our team and what he means to our fans. We’re always going to look at the best of our alternatives. For today, there wasn’t anything that was good enough to trade him.”
Again, Bowday says, “For today, there wasn’t…”
There’s no telling what tomorrow will bring.
Maybe Jim Bowden simply asked for too much in return for the 30 year old All-Star outfielder. Or, maybe Bowden finally realized that Sori is worth much more than what other teams believe. But then again, that may just be “for today.”
For the Nats’ sake, I’m hoping the latter.
What the Nationals need, like any team looking to compete for a championship, and, more than just a bunch of young arms for their farm system, is a leader. Sori can be that leader.
So why not make him just that?
He’s spent 8 years in the majors, and performed under the most pressure-filled towns in New York. He’s hit for power and speed, and even this year in assuming a new position in left field he leads all MLB outfielders with 15 assists. He bats leadoff and yet still boasts big numbers of 32 home runs, 66 RBIs and 79 runs.
And even better than all that he does on the field, Sori is well liked and respected in the locker room and off the field.
Last night before the Nationals’ game in San Francisco against the Giants, he approached his locker, decorated with team-colored streamers, a special chair replacing the normal clubhouse standard, a large fruit basket and bottle of champagne.
Two signs read of the clubhouse appreciation: one in Spanish, “Vive Soriano!” (read: “Soriano Lives!”) and the other in English, “We love you!”
Newly aquired teammate from the Cincinnati Reds, Austin Kearns said, “He means as much to this team in the clubhouse as he does on the field.”
The clubhouse hath spoken.
Soriano, who received news of his remaining in Washington from Nationals special assistant Jose Rijo around 20 minutes prior to the deadline. When asked how he felt about staying with the Nationals, he replied, “I’m happy.”
“It will be more easy to focus on playing every time because it passed. I was very excited they wanted to keep me here… I love my teammates, too. I think they were happy to see me walk in here.”
Now, Sori hath spoken.
In last night’s game, Sori went 3-for-6, with 2 singles, a double, 1 stolen base, 2 runs and 2 RBI.
Even rumor talk can’t shake him. So why trade away a great now talent for a potential future talent?
For as much as the fans and players love and respect Sori as a player and person, new Nationals front office leader, team president Stan Kasten, should take advantage and begin building his team with the leader he already has in his clubhouse.
Soriano, set to be a free agent at the end of the season, says that he wants to stay in Washington, but wants to have a no-trade clause in his next contract.
Kasten historically has not been willing to give out no-trade clauses in contracts.
With Sori, he needs to make an exception.
Giving Sori a 4-5 year deal worth around $15-16 million a season would be sufficient for his talents and leadership ability. The team has the money. It just comes down to showing the dedication in adding the no-trade provisional. And they’ve got the rest of the season to make the contract happen.
With a new stadium opening just around the corner in 2008 and fans already awaiting for a consistently competitive team, let’s hope the new owners and management don’t let their first chance at doing something promising for the Nationals slip away.
Sori doesn’t deserve it and, more importantly, neither do Nats fans.
Today is his judgment day. The day his fate is decided by way of frantic cell phones, conference calls and e-mails. He begins the day a Washington National and, if the loud rumors ring true, by the 4 pm EST trade deadline he’ll end the day a Houston Astro, Minnesota Twin, LA Angel or Florida Marlin. And he hasn’t the least bit of say in the matter.
But no matter what, nothing can rattle Alphonso Soriano’s aura of cool.
Maybe it’s because he’s already making $10 million this year. Maybe it’s because he’s going to be a free agent after the season ends, and only then will he have a say in where he does and does not want to go. Or maybe he was just raised to appreciate all the good things that has happened to him already so far in his 31 years of living.
Or maybe he’s just “never scurred” of anything thrown his way.
He showed off his cool when he signed as a free agent with the Yankees in 1998, adding extra pressure to the Yankee 2nd base experience known as “the Chuck Knoblach experiment.” Once finding a regular spot in the lineup in 2001, Sori hit 18 home runs, racked up 73 RBI and stole 43 bases. The following year he hit even better, racking up 128 runs, 39 home runs, 102 RBI and 42 stolen bases.
After only one more year with the Yankees, his great play and cool earned him a place in history by way of the 2004 team swap from New York to Texas for a certain well-known $25 million a year superstar.
What did Sori do after his trade to the Rangers? He made the All-Star squad, and then took home the MVP honors.
In this past offseason, Sori was sent to Washington in a swap for Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge and a minor league pitcher. Before he even fielded one grounder in spring training, controversy immediately surrounded him when he refused to leave his second base position for the outfield. It took all of a few weeks for him to humbly head out to left field and carry on putting up the stats that launched him into superstardom while in New York.
And all throughout, when Frank Robinson called him out for not wanting to be a “team player” by switching positions, when the media blasted him as a “malcontent” for the same reason, and when he tried to get $12 million from an arbitrator but settled for $10 million, Sori maintained that trademark cool.
Maybe the loud, demanding fans in New York can rattle A-Rod, but Sori? Not a chance.
Hailing stats of 32 home runs, 64 RBI, 26 stolen bases, .284 batting average and a .583 slugging percentage, Sori is arguably the best all-around hitter in the American League. And the AL includes A-Rod.
When he figures out his next destination, by way of heavy rumors and finally, in the end, a brief talk in the office of Nats GM Jim Bowden, Sori will do what he’s always done — play it cool.
The team who acquires Sori will be receive a wonderful gift that we in Washington were blessed to have for our short period of time. In Sori they get a player who can play any position on the field, swing the bat in any position of the game, and a player who can help position an average team in playoff contention.
On Tuesday last week, following an 8-6 win over the San Francisco Giants, Sori made an appearance at a bar in downtown D.C. where I just happened to be.
As my friend shook his hand, I recognized him and smiled, paying my respects as well. I added in the quick, friendly request as a Nats fan, “I hope you get to stay in Washington, man.”
He was all smiles, absorbing the atmosphere of probably both the team win and what could’ve been one of his last days as a Washington National. He played it cool, as if there were no speculation on every sports network across the country that he was rumored to be going to every team with good baseball sense.
His reply was a very brief and simple, “Thanks.”
But his thanks, paired with a smile was genuine. His smile spoke louder than the music blaring, the ESPN rumors across the mini TV screens and the my own thoughts of how uneasy any of us other regular folk would be not knowing where our next career step may lie.
That is what makes Sori Sori.
His cool transcends pressure, rumors and speculation, no matter how positive or negative. It transcends the baseball nomad lifestyle. It transcends the average ball player’s superstardom. It transcends Jim Bowden’s arrogant smiles.
And it transcends that of us regular folk.
Even way before we even know about his riches or fame. Even as a celebrity among regular folk at McFadden’s last Tuesday when Sori looked, walked and talked just like everyone else.
But even if it is found out that, in fact, Sori is a regular person who puts on his pants one leg at a time like regular folks do, I still won’t be convinced.
He’s just too damn cool.
A Big-Time Nat gets swatted in Washington
If only Alphonso Soriano wasn’t such a malcontent, he’d be able to stay in Washington.
Even before he took his first official season at-bat in Washington the media had his number. He was such an awful teammate and person coming into DC that he didn’t even want to change the position he played all of his life and felt comfortable at. The nerve!
It’s not all about you, Sori!
Now that he’s on the Nationals, he’s even selfishly boosted his individual stats.
He’s batting .298, including 23 home runs, 47 runs batted in, 15 stolen bases and a .607 slugging percentage. Not to mention his selfishness in the field, leading all outfielders in assists with 10.
Everyone should have seen this attitude coming in his first 3 major league at-bats when he hit 3 straight home runs - against Tampa Bay (game-winner in the 11th… I guess he had somewhere else to be!) and Seattle.
Sometimes you just wish that an All-Star player, earning $10 million a year to play a game, would come down to earth and realize it’s not all about them, and not all about padding their stats. Nevermind that Sori has been an All-Star and the best slugger at second base for the last four years. Why should that hold him back from changing positions, thus altering his comfort zone, and losing out on possible incentives he could earn as the best slugging second basemen during his playing career?
Sometimes it’s all about winning, Sori. The Nats are currently 5 games under .500 and 10.5 games behind the division-leading New York Mets. Who can the team attribute all the losing to?
That’s right - the guy wearing number 12, the malcontent himself, Sori. The guy always covered in a smile when he’s running on or off the field. I bet he’s only smiling because he knows a joke that he won’t let everyone else in on. Selfish.
See what I’m talking about?
**In all seriousness…
The Nats would be quite stupid to let him go, no matter what trade value he can generate. They should trade Jose Vidro. Give the younger (by 2 years) and big slugging Soriano a chance to be the best at his position. If for no other reason than his ability to trump all critics of the deep outfield (Vidro included) fences at RFK Stadium. Sori has 23 reasons why the location of the fence makes no difference to him. And maybe if they promoted Sori as the franchise player, more people would come out and cheer for the Nats. Last year with no one player as their star in their inaugural year they managed to fill the seats (2.7 million year attendance/34,000 average per game). Imagine what they could do with a marketable, personable, star with great character.
The Simpsons weren’t too far off when it hyped their soccer match like so:
“This match will determine once and for all which nation is the greatest on Earth: Mexico or Portugal!”
If this is actually the case, then of the two matches I know about so far –
If you’d like to use the same resources I used, here are three:
I plan on following the US team as far as they can go. Drawing from the results of the US/CR game, this will be the most brief soccer coverage by any one person. That could help me ease my way into the sport. I’ll follow Brazil after that because just like in other sports, when all of my teams are out of the running, I root for the most exciting finishes. And in soccer scoring any goal, ever, is the most exciting thing to me.
Quick note: France tied Switzerland in their World Cup opener. Congrats to the French for the neutral ending. Who could have possibly predicted that?
The Dirk and boyz took the first two games, but tonight they stroll out of the state of the cow, and into the state of the sun and orange, and into the city of the live party scene and hot women.
Here are a few guarantees:
Now for my bold predictions:
We’ll see how far off or dead on I am as the series goes on…
Yes, that means I hold that to be more important than the start of the World Cup, the NBA Finals, and the latest snag in the web of steroid users and abusers.
My partner Deezy and I started off quite slow, ending week 1 with a 1-3 record, but this weekend rebounded and now have a 5-3 record overall. We’re tied for third place now, and hopefully back on track to be in the running for the WBPL at the end of the 5 week season.
Our high pre-season ranking meant just as much as experts’ pick of the Colts to win Super Bowl XL, the US “dark horse” label for this year’s World Cup, Miami and Shaq’s dominant NBA Finals this year — nothing — until we win all the later games that count.
Stay tuned - once we get the WBPL site up and running, you better believe there’ll be frequent updates here!
The great LA Times columnist Jim Murray once wrote, “I don’t know what it is, but I can’t look at Hulk Hogan and believe that he’s the end result of millions and millions of years of evolution.” The same can be said for a great deal of athletes in general.
While the baseball, legal, and government worlds are busy accusing Barry Bonds of using performance enhancers, why haven’t we accused any of the other stars performing well above the norm?
Dominican Republic native Albert Pujols yesterday tied a major league record by hitting 4 home runs in 4 consecutive at bats, including a game winner and two others against the Cincinnati Reds, division rivals. His 9 homers in 13 games have him hitting one home run in just over every 3.5 at bats. This is undoubtedly an amazing feat, but why not one worth speculating?
The argument defending Pujols can’t be that he hasn’t tested positive yet, because neither has Bonds.
How about the media drawing up pictures from high school, college, and the farm system of the phenoms like Pujols so we can compare their old photos with their new, to see if their heads got bigger - a symptom that experts claim comes from steroid use.
Let’s get a camera in Pujols’s face and drill him Jim Gray-style about speculation that his surge of power comes strictly from performance enhancers.
Let’s have an investigation into his daily routines, and put a 24-hour watch on his life and see if he gets angry, defensive or just overly emotional in general - one of the symptoms experts claim stems from steroid use.
The fact is, Bonds has yet to test positive. That does not mean he has not used illegal performance enhancers, but it does raise the question that if everyone can be so sure that he’s guilty, why can’t other players - who aren’t chasing the elite records - be in the same category?
So before we start talking about purging Bonds statistics from the records, major league baseball needs to be sure that there haven’t been many, many others - as it seems there have been.
Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi, and Rafael Palmeiro all admitted to steroid use, but there is no such call for removing the records, pennants, and championships acquired through their careers.
Heck, Giambi was even seen as a hero, the anti-Bonds, for coming out and admitting to steroid use. As they say, once a cheater, always a cheater. Right?
I don’t necessarily believe so, but think of it as a person who commits a crime against humanity. Are they not seen as potential repeat offenders? Even with a mild punishment, does that mean they’ve learned their lesson and will never go back to their old ways?
Let’s not forget that Bonds, as easy to hate as he is, is still just a baseball player, just like the others in the MLB. He’s just atop the list of them all, and whether or not everyone’s pride right now will allow the notion, Bonds is still one of the greatest to ever play the wonderful game of baseball.
If you’re going to accuse, do so indiscriminately, and not with hate-clouded eyes for a player that has a tendency to make it easy to do just that.
Bonds, listed at 6’2”, 230lbs, is of the same body type as Pujols, listed at 6′3″, 225lbs. Both have extremely large muscles and have hit the baseball further and more frequently than most other players could ever dream.
That said, players like Pujols shouldn’t escape the same scrutiny that Bonds faces, simply because nobody has written a book of accusations… yet.
If history has taught us nothing else, even when we least suspect it, our favorite, most fascinating players players will let us down (See Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden). They will continue even past our days as long as the sports they play remain American businesses.
We, the mere spectators of this business, are under the false impression that professional athletes are merely playing a “game.”
Yes, we get our best entertainment from sports at times, I know I do.
But I bet you millions that professional sports isn’t just “a game.”
So would Bonds, Giambi, Palmeiro, Canseco and the bunch.
Listen to both sides of the Bonds arguments.
Notice the racial divide?
Doesn’t it feel like 1995 all over again?
Thankfully though, this is not a case of murder. Instead, this is the national pastime, which a case of integrity is on the line, rather than a life.
Let’s look at the similarities:
Bonds accusers tend to be white. They’re positive he’s abused an amalgam of steroids and every other enhancer he could get his hands on (see the #1 Bonds accusatory book, “Game of Shadows”) and has damaged the integrity of the sport almost single-handedly. To them, Bonds is as guilty as OJ in ‘95.
Bonds defenders tend to be black. They may or may not believe Bonds used performance enhancers, but they do not agree that he is the baseball villain that the books and accusers make him out to be. They see Bonds as the scapegoat for the dark cloud of steroids which has lingered over the MLB for the past decade. For the most part, to them, Bonds is as innocent as OJ in ‘95.
We remember the jury’s ruling - not guilty.
Upon hearing the ruling, people were filled with the mixed emotions you would expect. Black people cheered, while white people felt cheated by the American judicial system.
But why? Just as Chris Rock said, black people did not receive an “OJ innocence prize.” White people didn’t get a penalty charged against them. But still, the cultures clashed. Riots happened, and racial tension was as evident as ever - almost as much as it is now.
The Bonds BALCO inspired investigation, commissioned by MLB commish Bud Selig, looks to end similar to the OJ trials.
In the OJ trials, people debated responsibility for a loss of life. With Bonds, people debate responsibility for tainting the integrity of a business.
In fact, this business even looks and plays a lot like the same sport kids played when they were little, back when the business was still viewed as “just a game.”
I won’t lie, I’m a Barry Bonds (the athlete) fan.
In his younger days with the Pittsburg Pirates, his mix of power with speed was nearly unmatched.
The only other player during the time who could match this same mix was former best seller Jose Canseco.
Both are members of the 40 homers, 40 stolen bases club. Jose Canseco is an admitted steroids user. Bonds admitted only to taking what he thought was flaxseed oil for a short period of time, but is rumored to have been a steroids abuser.
Fans hate Bonds (the person) but love Bonds (the athlete). That is until lately, as he’s approached Fans don’t care about Canseco in either respect. But Canseco has what Bonds does not - a championship. Who else was on the Athletics’s championship team? Mark McGuire. Along with Canseco, he sat with other suspected steroid users Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, and made the news by repeatedly saying that he didn’t want to talk about the past and rumors of steroid use in his playing days.
McGuire was scrutinized for dancing around direct questions of whether he was guilty of steroid use. But in none of the talk did people say McGuire’s records should be stricken from the records. Neither did they say the championship Canseco and McGuire helped earn should be revoked. But with Bonds, people have practically screamed “off with his head!”
Records, MVPs, and pennants, all results of Bonds’ outstanding performance as a player, all are part of talks to either be accompanied with an asterisk, or removed from the record books alltogether.
Why is Bonds treated different than Canseco and McGuire?
Aren’t they all accused of the same crime, yet only one has admitted to any wrongdoing?
Call Barry Bonds what you will, but you’ve looked in awe as he sent pitches from all angles into McCovey Cove at PacBell Park.
You cheered on the 1998 home run chase for Roger Maris’s 61 in a season that two players - Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa - led and eventually conquered with 70 and 66, respectively.
Even when the Maris family waited around at the various stadiums for McGuire to tie and then break 61, you were touched by the sportsmanship that went onto Maris’s own flesh and blood.
But now, as Bonds zones in on George Herman “Babe” Ruth’s 714 all-time home run record - second, by the way, to a man named Henry “Hammerin Hank” Aaron - you say his records should be removed because it’s “quite apparent” that he used performance enhancers?
I say get real.
Unless the MLB is willing to expunge records from multiple players, including Raphael Palmeiro (who actually tested positive for a performance enhancer), Jason Giambi (who admitted to using enhancers, and soon was allowed back on the Yankees and back into public eye and affection), and Jose Canseco (wrote the book which was powerful enough to involve Congress’ precious time in cracking down on steroid abusers), then the consensus should be that no matter the player, the records should just be noted that steroids may/may not have affected records during the last 15 years.
But do we really think that the accused were the only juicers throughout the past years?
I think not.
Why not put an asterisk on old records for Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth who participated in baseball while black players were banned from the game?
Isn’t that a similar issue? The integrity of the game was tainted back then, because discrimination allowed for one set of players to define the record books that could have been altered in many ways.
I’m a Bonds fan, but I believe he took performance enhancers. His body grew throughout the last few years, as he got older, and while he wears baggy clothes, I’ve heard his physique is that of a bodybuilder. But even if
For now, I have to agree with Yankee great “Mr. October” Reggie Jackson’s comment on the Dan Patrick Show, “If these guys have not tested, it is unfair to commit them to guilt.”
It’s forgotten by many, but in America, you’re innocent until proven guilty.
OJ Simpson never got that luxury. Neither has Bonds.
But as much as baseball fans want to burn Bonds at the stake, even if the investigation turns out to reveal rampant steroid use in baseball, they have a monumental decision to make.
Do they go on and let Bonds chase Aaron and Ruth’s all-time home run marks, or do they ban him, and his records from baseball?
The MLB is in a corner. If they crucify Bonds, even more questions about who else juiced in the game arise.
No one seemed to speculate about his total until after Bonds concluded the 2001 season with 73 home runs, his career total reaching 567 - 147 shy of The Babe’s record, and 188 less than Hammerin Hank.
Now that he’s 7 homers away from The Babe, the investigation could turn out to be the newest formal “witch hunt” in baseball. But as long as Bonds is the lone scapegoat used in arguments for revising old baseball stats, and not McGuire, Palmeiro, Caminiti, and McGuire in the same sentence, the race issue will remain.
It’s not as simple as deleting the single records of these players who may have “cheated” the game for their own benefit. In accomplishing their individual feats, teams won pennants, championships, and gained notoriety helping gain revenue. Because of that, all of those records and awards were compromised and have to be adjusted the same way as the individual record. It’s only fair.
We fans should’ve seen this coming, but we looked the other way because home runs are exciting.
Essentially we feel cheated for what we ignored and brushed under the rug years ago.
Serves us all right.
While there is no easy way to handle the looming steroid cloud, baseball can do itself a favor and scrutinize all players during the steroid years, and not the more popular, easier to hate ones like Bonds.
Until the cloud is cleared, we have no choice but to be skeptics of all over-achievers, including fan favorites.
Roger Clemens, who competed for a Cy Young award years after many people thought he was over the hill and done, needs to be investigated.
Jim Thome, who went through alternate years of great statistical years and injuries but now is off to a wonderful start with the White Sox, needs to be investigated.
The young, Bonds-like swinging slugger Robert Pujols, considered the second best batter in baseball (first is Bonds, if you didn’t know), should be investigated for, if nothing else, putting up amazing statistics that rival that of Bonds.
If we’re going to start a witch hunt, don’t let color or personality factor in. Let’s get them all, so we don’t have to relive 1995.
Timothy Hopkins runs TimothyLukeHopkins.com, and frequently writes and edits articles for www.mindritesports.com. He can be emailed at TimothyLukeHopkins@gmail.com.
