No, Bonds will be remembered with Rose, and Joe Jackson. Rose played the game like no one before or since. He was on three teams that won the World Series, won the World Series MVP, and oh yes, banged out 4,256 hits, a record that will not soon be approached.
But you can’t have a conversation about Rose without gambling coming up. He’s not in the Hall of Fame. Rose is never discussed in terms of “greatest hitter ever.” Instead, the arguments focus on whether he should be in Cooperstown, in light of the damage he did.
Jackson has been romanticized by the films Field of Dreams, and immortalized in Eight Men Out. What is lost is Jackson was one of the best hitters ever.
Five times in his career, Jackson had more than 200 hits. He finished his career with a lifetime batting average of .356. It was also rumored Babe Ruth copied his swing. Yet Jackson is synonymous with 1919, with the eight players who sold their souls, and with gambling. He’s not in the Hall of Fame either.
Unlike those two, Bonds will probably never be banned from the game for life. It’s also difficult to imagine him not being enshrined in Cooperstown. But mention Bonds’ name, and steroids will come up. It will follow him wherever he goes. No one will be able to talk about his career without a mental asterisk.
Bonds will pass Ruth, and may one day pass Aaron. However, he will never pass the unending controversy of drugs, scandal and cheating.
Article comments
1 - Michael J. West
Not only did Hank Aaron have clout and class, he had courage--he broke the home run record at a time when he was receiving 1,000 death threats a day against not only himself, but his daughter. To be able to excel under that kind of pressure is everything you could ask from a sports hero.
Barry Bonds, on the other hand, is no kind of hero.
2 - sal m
with legal actions in the offing for bonds, don't be so sure that he won't be banned from the game. it's is unlikely, but until the various invesitgations are completed - especially the perjury investigation - there's no way to know.
what bonds has been involved in is every bit as damaging to the game, and had more impact on the outcomes of games, playoff races, post season awards and season and career records, as anything that pete rose or joe jackson did.
3 - Bliffle
Amazing that so much attention is wasted on trivial show biz characters like mere baseball players. Why should anyone care about those bozos for anytime longer than the hour to watch one of their performances? Better to give ones attention and admiration to the real heros of society, like the PBS doc I saw last night "The Cure" about the pioneering researchers and doctors who've worked on cardiovascular disease.
4 - Nicholas Stix
I won't play dumb here and pretend to wonder why. In fact, I'll make my opinions known: I believe Barry Bonds used steroids.
Correct.
I believe the media in general is all but certain of it.
Again correct.
And even though the MLB will play the whole "We don't celebrate second place" game, it's probably something more than that. More likely, the sport feels Bonds cheated and wants to stay as far away from him as possible.
Probably correct here, as well.
And as you suggested, the records of the cheaters will not be expunged. Thus will the record lists will be clogged with the following cheaters who passed legit superstars:
Barry Bonds
Sammy Sosa
Mark McGwire
Rafael Palmeiro
Juan Gonzalez
Jose Canseco
And in a few years, Jason Giambi.
Next, we have to figure out which pitchers have been dirty. Let's see. One criterion is if a forty-something pitcher suddenly has his lowest ERA ever.
5 - sal m
with regards to pitchers, i don't think you have to wait for career lows in era or highs in season wins or anything other outcome based stats.
there are other things that you can look at like injuries to young but fragile power pitchers who are breaking like crystal despite being treated with kid gloves. inning and pitch counts don't see to be enough to protect these guys from themselves.
i can think of a certain 40+ year old power pitcher who is inactive at this point in the season, but who has put up consistant, workhorse numbers with regards to innings pitched, games started etc...did he start a regimen before he started to fall off or did he start his regimen after a brief taste of what old age means to a pitcher and start before this slide looked age related? only his hair dresser knows....
6 - Matthew T. Sussman
I think Julio Franco's career is tarnished with his usage of performance enhancing Metamucil.
7 - Geo
Nickolas... would you include Rose on that list?