Barry Bonds: Baseball May Get The Home Run King It Deserves
Published April 16, 2007
Since I am a life long San Francisco Giants fan (they had a Single A farm team in my hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts in the 1950’s and early 1960’s), my father in law asked if I was a Barry Bonds fan.
I am. Or I was. Or, like so many others, I don’t know what I am right now.
I loved Barry Bonds. I loved Barry Bonds because I loved Bobby Bonds. Through a stretch of really bad years, with teammates like Tito Fuentes and Jim Ray Hart, always surly, always unpredictable and always hitting home runs and stealing bases – Bobby Bonds was one of my heroes. With the Giants, I suffered through the losing in the 1970s and ‘80s. Bobby Bonds made it easier, considering:
• In 1989, they beating the Cubs in the NLCS, only to wait 12 days after losing the first two games because of that famous earthquake, only to lose the next two in a World Series in which they never led.
• In 1993 they won 103 games yet didn't make the playoffs (for those of you on both sides of the wild card debate you can thank/blame the 1993 Giants).
• On October 26, 2002, they took a five-run lead into the bottom of the 7th inning in Game 6 of the World Series with a 3-2 series lead, only to blow it when the Angels scored three in both the seventh and eighth to win 6-5).
• Just about everything with Barry Bonds.
So there was little doubt that I was ecstatic when Barry Bonds came over to the Giants in 1993. Am I still ecstatic? I don’t know. And I’m not sure that it’s all Barry’s fault. Did Barry Bonds take steroids? Some will say the evidence is “clear.”
Let’s look at the recent history of baseball as a backdrop to my overall confusion. Contrary to popular belief, steroid use has been banned since 1991, posted in no uncertain terms in a memo by Fay Vincent. Testing, though, could not be agreed to through collective bargaining. Players didn’t want it, and owners didn’t push.
In 1994, the players get locked out, wiping out the World Series. Although the game returned in 1995, baseball took a big hit to its fan base. What good is a national pastime if it’s not there when you need it?
A couple of months after the lockout, Congress enacted the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which effectively took most new supplements and compounds out of the regulatory grip of the FDA. As players fanned out into private gyms because their team facilities were off limits because of the lockout, they became exposed to a rash of designer performance enhancing drugs such as human growth hormone.
As these performance enhancing drugs became more accessible, offense took off, giving baseball a much needed shot in the arm (so to speak), and sparking interest which culminated in the historic Sammy Sosa/Mark McGwire home run chase in the fall of 1998.
- Barry Bonds: Baseball May Get The Home Run King It Deserves
- Published: April 16, 2007
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Sports
- Filed Under: Sports: Baseball, Culture: Celebrity
- Writer: Rick Vassar
- Rick Vassar's BC Writer page
- Rick Vassar's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
What is the root of Bond's attitude? Sometimes I listen to him and nod my head in disappointment. It's a shame that such a famous record will possibly be broken under a dark cloud. Good thoughtful piece. Especially the fact you don't think he'll break it because MLB will stop it. Hypocrisy reigns free. Just look at l'affaire Imus.
Androstenedione IS NOT an anabolic steroid. It is not, was not, and never will be a steroid. Get your story straight before you post lies like this. It is a prohormone, not a damn steroid.
Main Entry: an·dro·stene·di·one
Pronunciation: "an-dr&-"stEn-'dI-On, -'stEn-dE-"On
Function: noun
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary androsterone + -ene + di- + -one
: a steroid sex hormone C19H26O2 that is secreted by the testes, ovaries, and adrenal cortex and is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of testosterone and estrogen
I hate holier than thou attitude that most bonds haters have. The fact is whatever bonds did, hundreds of other players have done as well. The fact is none of them are as good as bonds. Barry Bonds is likely the greatest hitter in the history of baseball. The real crime is not appreciating him.
Steroids or not Barry Bonds is the greatest baseball player (Hitter) that ever played the game. It was the steroid era of baseball. Remember he was hitting against pitchers who were also taking steroids.
We all know that Bonds and most every other power hitter was on some kind of juice. So were many pitchers. It was the times and baseball and the fans knew it.
Also Bonds was never tested positive for steroids and to this date it has not been proven that he did.
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Baseball is not a sport anymore,per se, it is a business and the Lords of Baseball did whatever it took to win back the fans after the '94 season. The fans are the just as guilty because they continue to fill the seats. can you imagine the message sent if just for one day the fans unite and stop going through the turnstiles? I believe fans turn a blind eye to the "integrity of the game" in exchange for the "instant gratification" that has become a staple of American sports culture. In the Imus case,it is argued that green is the color that is cared about and if that is true shouldn't it hold true in this situation? Therefore,how about organizing a mass protest of "one day no show" at the games to show the fans displeasure? Never happen. Know why? Because the majority want this behavior.This mentality has been drummed in our heads for the last 35 years and it's become a part of everyday life to a lot of us. just look around at what's happening to our youth. It has went beyond "just winning" to "total domination" in our youths psyches. We the fans have the ability to make a difference but enjoy living dangerously too much to give "integrity" a shot. By the pricking of my thumb,something wicked this way comes.......