Jan

11

It has begun for Bonds

January 11, 2007 |

The beginning of the end has begun for Barry Bonds.

Earlier in the week the infamous Erik Weibust voice the opinion that the writers were “idiots” for not voting in Mark McGwire into the Baseball Hall of Fame. With all due respect to Erik, he’s wrong. But possibly only slightly. I agree with him that if McGwire isn’t let in that it’s insane to let Barry Bonds in.

Mark McGwire is one of the nicest guys ever to play baseball. There is no question that he used Androstenedione. When he was caught by a reporter with it, the substance was banned in the Olypics and the NFL. The substance was not illegal by federal standards and was sold at GNC. After people started to question his use of it he stopped. Just before his last season of playing baseball he signed a lucrative contract with St. Louis while having doubts in how well he would play. When he determined that he would not be able to play up to his personal standard he retired WITHOUT SIGNING THE CONTRACT. He had every legal right to that money. How many baseball players take their payout when they retire (I honestly don’t know the answer)? It was very upstanding of him not to sign the contract and eventually walk away from that money when he had doubts about his ability to play.

Barry Bonds is a jerk. His complaints about being hounded by steroid accusations while McGwire wasn’t due to racism are completely off the mark. He wasn’t hounded due to his race. He was hounded because he is a jerk. As pointed out: McGwire isn’t. From USAToday:

The most famous block of lockers in baseball might belong to San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds. He has a row to himself, complete with a vibrating lounge chair and TV set.

I don’t know how many other players have this luxury (maybe more after Bonds got it) but that’s pretty demanding to have that. Bonds has said inappropriate things to the media and fans and others players on his team. No amount of last ditch effort on his part to change the perception of his personality will change that.

My opinion has been, I can understand if McGwire is not voted into the Hall of Fame due the questions surrounding his andro use. However, to let Barry Bonds into the Hall of Fame with even greater questions would be an injustice no matter what or how many records he breaks.

A very possible endgame may be in sight now. If it is found before Bonds retires or is eligible for the Hall of Fame that he has definitely used performance enhancing drugs (and it has to be worse than greenies) then baseball’s problem is taken care of. The recent revelation about failing a test is only a hint at what the strategy of “the people who run baseball” might be. Catch him before you have to deal with the question: should Barry Bonds be in the Hall of Fame?


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2 Comments so far

  1. Erik Weibust on January 11, 2007 4:07 pm

    I’d prefer that you refer to me as genius, not infamous.

  2. Nathan on October 29, 2007 6:09 pm

    I think Barry Bonds gets into the Hall of Fame. While Mark McGuire was a phenomenal power hitter, Barry is considered one of the greatest to play the game (accusations about steroids aside). But that’s not the reason he’ll get in. Both he and McGuire will get in. Bond’s wont be a first ballot HOFer either, but these things tend to work themselves out over time. Honestly they both belong in the Hall of Fame. I think if you start keeping players out because of steroids, this era of baseball, and possibly any future player will be much less likely to get in, and it is very hard to seperate people who have used from the people who haven’t, especially considering most of the suspicions surrounding players have no proof behind them.

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