Barry's head was bigger than Hank Aaron's on the screen.

Or sending him to jail for perjury. God, I live in San Francisco and the amount of wanking over this steroid addled freak going on here is just sickening.

Amen to that. I could not be more bored. It was more impressive when people broke records without manipulating their body chemistry.

Hey, Kevin. You ignore Wee Willie Keeler and Nap Lajoie. Where's the beef?

Bonds hit his homer in the bottom of the fifth to put the Giants up by a run.

Top of the sixth, Bonds fails to answer the bell. Sorry teammates. Mr. Bonds has left the auditorium.

Hi Kevin,

Daily reader and many thanks to you.

However, I am tipping my hat to Barry Bonds. He's done what no other man has done before.

Screw these baseball traditionalists. Whites only records?

The greatest hitter since Ted Williams. If there's justice, he'll someday get treated as a legend just like Williams was, even though both were hated when they played.

Anybody who loves baseball should love to watch this guy hit.

Bonds is a damn good baseball player. If you want a hero, go buy a comic book.

Ignore who?

*

Barry who? Kevin, great job on Warren Olney tonight.

At least cycling has admitted it has a problem.

I don't really know how to respond to this whole thing. And this is more of a vent. And sorry Nied, you're going to hear a lot more about the Giants and Barry in S.F. Of course, it will be about when he retires.

I am a San Francisco Giants fan (and an Oakland A's fan as well). I have been a San Francisco Giants fan (and an A's fan) my entire life. I like Barry Bonds the player. He came to the San Francisco Giants in 1993, after we were so close to becoming the Tampa Bay Giants, and we were so close to winning the pennant that year (if it wasn't for the two most vile and evil teams in MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves). And, after another 3 years of mediocrity, the Giants from 1997-2003 were an entertaining team to watch. And we were six outs from winning the World Series in 2002. Before Barry Bonds came to S.F., the Giants stunk (with the exception of 1987 and 1989). That was an understatement, they were really bad. I am just saying this because it might give some insight as to why many Giants fans, like myself, still support Bonds - even though he is NOT a nice person, he is not really a team player (bit of an understatement), and even though there is a lot of circumstantial evidence against him involving steroids (not to mention the perjury charges in the BALCO case).

Having said that, I am glad that he hit home run 756. And this is not so much a celebration, but it is more of a sigh of relief. I am just glad this is over. I am glad the media scrutiny is over (hopefully). And I hope that we can just go back to playing baseball (or in the Giants and A's cases, really bad baseball). I just hated reading sports pundits (specifically Tom Verducci at Sports Illustrated and Dan Wetzel in Yahoo Sports) lambast S.F. Giants fans for supporting one of their players (nobody criticized St. Louis Cardinals fans for supporting Mark McGuire, or Chicago Cubs fans for supporting Sammy Sosa). I hate the hypocracy of people being so critical of the Giants organization, when some stuides, specifically the Sports Illustrated study on steroids in Baseball, said that as many as "25 to 40 percent of all Major Leaguers are juiced," and that all organizations probably knew about the problem (Jose Canseco said 85%, but that is Jose Canseco who is not the most reliable). I hate that this whole episode has given people an excuse to hate San Francisco. And I am probably most upset at Bud Selig and MLB, for not instituting proper doping tests 15 years ago when he began his tenure as commissioner, when every other league had them (but hey, they wanted home runs because home runs sell tickets).

Anyway, this whole joyless pursuit of the record is over. Well, that is until Alex Rodriguez breaks it in about 10 years.

jharp,

Sadaharu Oh has 868 home runs (in Japanese Baseball). Bonds still has 112 more to tie that record.

Screw these baseball traditionalists. Whites only records?

WTF?! Last time I checked Hank Aaron wasn't white. The problem most "baseball traditionalists" have is that Bonds used illegal substances to cheat. While great men like Aaron actually worked hard for their record.

The greatest hitter since Ted Williams. If there's justice, he'll someday get treated as a legend just like Williams was, even though both were hated when they played.

Anybody who loves baseball should love to watch this guy hit.

As a Sox fan that one hits a nerve. Williams is a legend because he did what he did through his own talents. Bonds wont be one because A) A-Rod will hopefully erase his tainted record soon (even as a Red Sox fan I'd rather see A-Rod get the record than Bonds) and B) the only talent on display in Bonds case was that of the BALCO chemists who made a hard to detect steroid.

Williams is a legend in spite of the fact that most fans couldn't stand him when he played. I think most players didn't like him either. I'm glad he got the recognition he deserved before he died. Fortunately, reputations can change.

Best Williams quote ever: "If you poored hot water on a sportwriter, you'd get instand sh*t."

And if you really think Bonds isn't an incredible hitter, period, you don't know much more than a hot, wet sportswriter about either hitting or steroids.

Actually, it is really hard to say how "pure" baseball was back in the day. In "Ball Four," Jim Bouton talks about how many players took "greenies" (dextroamphetamine sulfate) or "pep pills" and "how a lot of baseball players couldn't function without them." This was in 1969 (although, on his webistie, Jim Bouton said they were to cure hangovers - but I don't know). During the 1980's, drug use was rampant in Major League Baseball.

Is Barry Bonds more corrupt than MLB? Than the sports complex in the USA? Than the wealthy beyond imagination owners extorting tax revenues for bigger arenas that can be sold to wealthy business owners who deduct them from perhaps the limited taxes paid?

Somehow the performance enhancers supposedly compromise the game, the records. But...MLB set the rules, enforced whatever rules there were, and Barry Bonds made it through the enforcement. Ethical, who knows? Life or death, hell no!

Barry Bonds is an incredible hitter in the way Ben Johnson or Florence Griffith-Joyner were incredible sprinters (and Florence made it through the enforcement too). Part of me feels give the guy his due but, nah...

*

jharp: "I am tipping my hat to Barry Bonds. He's done what no other man has done before. Screw these baseball traditionalists. Whites only records?"

Hank Aaron was white? C'mon, dude! Must everything have sinister racial overtones?

People generally don't like Barry Bonds because -- tonights's singular and historic accomplishment aside for the moment -- he's an asshole. And if he was English, German, Turkish, Vietnamese or Maori, with a self-absorbed attitude like his, he'd still be an asshole.

But tonight's definitely his night, so as a lifetime baseball and L.A. Dodger fan I have to give him his due. I watched him hit it out on TV, and I have to say it was a genuine thrill to see him do it, and upon seeing that ill-repressed shit-eating grin as he rounded third base and headed home, I was truly happy for him. And I'm certainly glad that Commissioner Bud Selig did the right thing and showed up to honor the moment, and pay homage to a very great player.

But as sure as the sun will rise in the east tomorrow, you can be just as sure that Barry Bonds will still be an asshole when it does.

How many of the folks here could hit a major leaguer's fastball, much less hit it out of the park?

If you don't like Barry Bonds thats fine, but you have to admit that he can hit a baseball.

"Steroid addled freak?" from all the interviews I've seen of him he appears to be on downers not hepped up on anything.

As much as folks want to suspect him, he has been tested and not tested positive for any steroids. He's in the same place as Lance Armstrong. After beginning his career with good, but not stellar ability, he transformed himself over a short time into a peak athlete. Now those that can't imagine how to do that themselves assume it has to be through some sort of subterfuge, and use the one stigma left in American society, drug use, as their bludgeon.

For the record, the Washington Nationals won the game 8-6.

Nats are on a nice 7-1 tear.

Baseball? Oh, you must be referring to the "sport" that canceled its World Series back in 1994. Hasn't been a sport since; it's a business and one of its employees just set a new record. Does he get a bonus? Is it ordinary income or a return on capital?
Oh, right, sorry, Kevin, I forgot you only question exorbitant salaries on Wall Street.

How many of the folks here could hit a major leaguer's fastball, much less hit it out of the park?

I thought we'd finished with the W. Thomas Smith thread? You know, the logical trope that goes you can't criticize the war unless you've been in the forces.

Yeah, Barry would have been a good or a great home run hitter whatever... the asterisk is as to whether he would have been the greatest. And yes it's churlish to point it out on his night. I'm churlish.

he transformed himself over a short time into a peak athlete. Now those that can't imagine how to do that themselves assume it has to be through some sort of subterfuge

No, it's because it very often is because of 'subterfuge' (aka steroids; and this is not because it's the one stigma left in American society but because of the odd fact that it is steroids that are often used). In athletics, a sudden improvement in performance is a big, glittery dayglo flag. There are changes the human body just can't make that quickly, whatever, the training regimen. Now, power-hitting a baseball involves a number of aspects and it may be in Bonds' case that drugs is not one of them... it may be... but circumstantial evidence more often than not points in a guilty one's direction. So color me sceptical.

After beginning his career with good, but not stellar ability,

Three MVPs before he started juicing is "good, but not stellar"?

If Selig and MLB had done their job in the '90's, Bonds would never have gone down the juicing road. After years of watching inferior players put up better numbers while baseball treated steriods like spitballs, he gave in to the temptation. Bad choice, but the attempt by baseball execs and sportswriters to make him the unique bad guy is kind of pathetic

Bonds is just more proof of the old wisdom: watch out for what you wish for, cuz you may get it.

Donald from Hawaii,

Hey, Ty Cobb was an Asshole, so what? He was a legitimate Hall of Famer - Bonds may have been a legitimate contender before steroids, but, to hell with him now.

And I say that as a diehard A's fan - To hell with McGuire, Canseco, and Giambi. Juicing is juicing, no matter the color of your skin or whether you are the sweetest fellow or the biggest Asshole in the land.

Geez, 300 wins and no juicing for Glavine.

To be fair and balanced, why not more success stories from local Methadone clinics by our sports reporters.

Now he can really go after the Tour de France.

One of the best five or so hitters who ever lived, even absent steroids. Also, it's taken as obvious that steroids gave a substantial boost to Bonds's home run total--of course, he used them--but there are good reasons to think otherwise. See www.arthurdevany.com/webstuff/images/DeVanyHomeRunMS.pdf.

Most fundamentally, strength is not bat speed. Moreover, more than one-third of those caught using steriods have been pitchers.

Well I've been happy to just see Giants games on the east coast. Bonds is a very impressive baseball player. The fact that he didn't collapse into obscurity under the new testing regulations tells you something. Drug free, forty three years old, and maintaining the highest on base percentage in major league baseball.

If I bother getting angry about the whole thing it's about the holier-than-thou Nancies in baseball management, sports writing, etc. who are spitting venom now but looked the other way and profitted during the 1990's drug fest. In 2003 every team still had 2 to 3 players test positive. There was a huge problem and most of these folks had to know about it since 1997. How many stories did these guys put out about "the juiced ball"?

Bud Selig deserves more than asterix. Labor dispute --> strike--> missed world series --> withering fan base --> rampant drug use brings back fans --> impotent testing regime --> make angry face at Barry Bonds.

First, baseball needs to get rid of the used car saleman shill named Bud Selig. Second, Pete Rose needs to be enshrined at Cooperstown.

Then, maybe, I'll have an interest in the national passtime."

Chief,

Well, either there or in the infield of Turfway Park for keeping the handle active. Maybe they could write the Charlie Hustle Sprint Handicap for three and up.

As long as men idolize professional sports figures there will be war after war after war.

Who?

I tip my hat to any athlete that treats sportswriters the way they should be treated- like know-nothing wannabes.

As for the steroids- yes, Bonds used them as did, probably, at least a hundred other players, or more, in the 90s. I hope he plays another 3 years and pushes it out to 900 home runs.

What should be done about performance enhancing drugs? Nothing, other than just stopping the testing for them. The testers will always be a step behind the users. If you want to use them, you should be allowed to do so.

We don't practice what we preach, however, do we?

I can't wait until the next blog entry on ignoring Barry Bonds.

B said it well:

"Drug free, forty three years old, and maintaining the highest on base percentage in major league baseball."

Also, I think there is a race issue here. Many of the writers now sneering about Bonds were fawning all over McGuire when, as is now clear, anyone with a sophisticated knowledge of major league baseball knew McGuire was juiced. I'm still waiting for Bud Selig and all those lying sportswriters from McGuire's run to apologize.

MLB, the sportswriters, and the media set a clear standard with McGuire that juice was acceptable in pursuit of a home run record. They threw down the gaunlet to Bonds, and now you all are on your moral high horses because you think he picked it up?

You wanted him to quit before his time and throw himself on his sword for the sport MLB corrupted? How about if Bud Selig appologizes first...?

Questions about steroids and assholism aside, he is still one of the top 2 to 4 baseball players to ever play the game.

ASTERISK WATCH....Barry Bonds has finally hit home run #756. Can we now please go back to ignoring him?

I didn't realize we had to ask permission for that; I hadn't stopped ignoring him for years.

Well, it has become very evident that no performance enhancing drugs have been used at 1600 Wilhelmstrasse.

Performance Debilitating? By the truck load.

Yancey Ward:

On performance enhancing drugs: many of them really are threatening to long term physical and mental health. They are a legitimate public health issue.

My middle school aged son is a extremely good baseball player in his age group. He loves the game and has learned a lot about being part of a community and also the pay off from individual practice and discipline. All of this has transferred over to other areas of his life. He wants to play baseball in high school and conciously aspires to get grades that allow him to play in college too.

If I knew he would have to start shooting up steroids to compete in college or pro baseball, I'd stop him playing right now. This second.

Let's face it -- the owners of MLB teams are the dumbest bunch of rich guys since the unlamented demise of inherited monarchy.

It's a little silly for people to complain that an athlete used steroids instead of hard work, the way that people did it in the old days. Athletes today work and train as hard as ever. Steroids are not a substitute for hard work.

But the fact is that no matter how hard you work at your sport, there will be a plateau in your level of performance at some point. Steroids are an attempt to raise this plateau, not to avoid hard work. If you are a couch potato, steroids are not going to turn you into a world-class athlete.

Mirror,

I agree with you about the detrimental effects of such drugs, but prohibition does not work.

Barry Bonds may have used performance enhancing chemicals, but Babe Ruth probably did, too. There were a lot of drugs available in the Twenties, and they were legal. I would not doubt that Hank Aaron also used drugs like amphetamines, Mickey Mantle certainly did, but perhaps Mr. Aaron only used nutritional supplements and ate liver for breakfast.

What bothers me most about the 'controversy' of Mr. Bonds' home run records, is it is a creation of alcoholic sports writers. The sports writers who decry Mr. Bonds achievements do not provide breathalyzer test scores of themselves in their bylines. My guess is they are always inebriated, if not stoned on other substances, and their dislike of Mr. Bonds is based on racism and alcoholic hallucinations.

Sports fans are very lucky to have been able to witness Barry Bonds' greatness.

All of you folks that hate Barry B are in denial if you think race is not in play here.

Go Barry...let them eat cake....

So you won't be subscribing to BarryBondsSelect then?

Assholes are one thing...cheaters are something else.

ASTERISK WATCH....Barry Bonds has finally hit home run #756. Can we now please go back to ignoring him? —Kevin Drum

'What do you mean "we," Kimosabi.'

I've been ignoring the drug addict for years.

All of you folks that hate Barry B are in denial if you think race is not in play here.

Go Barry...let them eat cake...Posted by: Richie Rich

Fuck yeah! Go OJ. Let them eat . . .

Assholes are one thing...cheaters are something else.

Yeah, I'll never like A-Rod either.

Well, Brojo, thanks for clearing that up.

As a sports watcher of many years, I have had the pleasure of Not seeing Bonds. But, that makes me a racist, I suppose.

Plus, I am anti-Irish for wanting McGuire to not enter the Hall of Fame, and anti-Cuban and anti-Italian for despising both Canseco and Giambi, after cheering for all three when they were with Oakland.

Yeah, Yancey, let's hear it for the Eclipse Award for Best Pharmacist on the thoroughbred circuits. More "speed balls", I say - Steriods and drugs are used mainly, not for more speed, but to allow an animal to either heal faster and/or run through pain. So juice them all and have them break down and destroyed. Yancy, yes, prohibition can be hard to accomplish, but banning the users, trainers and providers sends a strong message.

Bonds = OJ? Just jump to Hitler and get it over with.

Let's face it. No one is going to ignore Barry Bonds till the figure skaters start putting hits out on eachother again. Maybe Posh will have an affair with a competing soccer player and Beckham will drive across the country in diapers to mete out his revenge.

I was referring to the sports writers and their prejudice against Mr. Bonds, not the sports fans, who may or may not dislike him for many different reasons. But if you do not like Bonds or other sports figures because of what you have read about them, remember it was alcoholics who wrote the articles. I hope sports 'journalists' seek treatment for their chemical addictions.

And I'm certainly glad that Commissioner Bud Selig did the right thing and showed up to honor the moment, and pay homage to a very great player.

Selig wasn't there for 756. He was there, however, for 755.

Many of the writers now sneering about Bonds were fawning all over McGuire when, as is now clear, anyone with a sophisticated knowledge of major league baseball knew McGuire was juiced. I'm still waiting for Bud Selig and all those lying sportswriters from McGuire's run to apologize. MLB, the sportswriters, and the media set a clear standard with McGuire that juice was acceptable in pursuit of a home run record.

Exactly. Those who have the long knives out for Bonds have to square that with how McGuire was treated.

Bonds was a complete ball player, at the plate, in the field and on the basepaths. He should be a hall of famer.

Jerk-yes

Team player-no

Asset for winning games-yes

It was obvious he roided up in 2000 to make a run at Aaron. Before 2000, his previous HR high was 46, in 1993, when he was 29. Starting in 2000, his home run totals were 49, 73, 46, 45, 45; spanning age 36 to age 41, while putting up the highest BA totals of his career, also. You just don't up your home run performance at age 36 by 25% and maintain it for 5 years. Human bodies don't work that way.

In 2006, off roids, his home run total dropped to 26. He will probably end up with 25-30 this year. He would never have had a chance to catch Aaron without the chemicals.

What about MLB juicing the ball?

Shouldn't Mr. Selig, I wish someone would have dumped a beer on him while everyone else applauded homer number 755, be held to the same level of scrutiny for his invlovement with juicing the ball after the strike year?

Barry Bonds may have used performance enhancing chemicals, but Babe Ruth probably did, too. There were a lot of drugs available in the Twenties, and they were legal. I would not doubt that Hank Aaron also used drugs like amphetamines, Mickey Mantle certainly did, but perhaps Mr. Aaron only used nutritional supplements and ate liver for breakfast.

Jesus. What a moron. So, you wanna talk about drunks and sports? Ruth and Mantle accomplished what they did as heavy drinkers, the latter being a confirmed alcoholic that suited up more than once drunk.

No drug existed in the days Ruth played that would have enhanced hitting, especially not amphetamines, which are used to improve whole body quickness and increase aggressiveness. In fact, they would have a deleterious effect on power hitting. If Aaron used them, they would have been beneficial to fielding and base running, the latter he was not particularly known for having less than 300 stolen bases in a 23-year career.

Ruth accomplished what he did at a time when many of the parks were so big that few people could even hit home runs. Philly's park was 700' to the wall, yet Ruth hit home runs there in the latter years of his career. That was supposedly the "live-ball" era, but in no way compares to the juiced balls used in the major league for the last couple of decades.

Why is it that so many people think this has to do with race? Mark McGuire is just as vilified as is Bonds and, the last time I checked, he's white.

Yeah, there can be no doubt that racism is behind the loathing of Bonds and "the pass" that sportswriters gave to McGwire. How else to explain the overwhelming margin by which Mac was voted into the Hall of Fame?

And if you really think Bonds isn't an incredible hitter, period, you don't know much more than a hot, wet sportswriter about either hitting or steroids.

Oh please tell me you aren't going to pull out that ridiculous "but it wrecks his form" defense. Because after all Bonds couldn't possibly go to the batting cages and practice hitting balls with his newly purchased muscles could he?

Also, I think there is a race issue here. Many of the writers now sneering about Bonds were fawning all over McGuire when, as is now clear, anyone with a sophisticated knowledge of major league baseball knew McGuire was juiced. I'm still waiting for Bud Selig and all those lying sportswriters from McGuire's run to apologize.

Oh please. You forget that everyone was just as fawning over Sammy Sosa as well (remember the big story there was the race between the two), maybe I need to get my eyes checked but he certainly doesn't look white. And of course unlike Bonds, there wasn't credible evidence of drug use until well after the big home run race.

I think there's no question that Bonds used steroids from 2001-2004...those were the only four years of his career where his Slugging Average was over .700, including two years where it was over .800, something nobody else has accomplished except Babe Ruth.

That said, I question the extent to which Bonds gained any significant competitive advantage through his steroid use. Without a doubt, a significant number of the pitchers he was batting against were also using steriods during this time period. We just haven't heard about it since none of them are famous, but I bet we will once the Mitchell report is released. It would be very naive to think that hitters were using steroids but pitchers weren't.

With regard to the Bonds vs. Aaron debate, there is no question that Bonds is the better hitter. People may not realize it, but it took Bonds 2,590 fewer official AB than Aaron to reach 755 (part of this is due to the fact that Bonds has walked 1100 times more than Aaron). Even if you take away 100 of Bonds' HR to account for his steroid use, he still would have hit a HR every 14.9 AB, versus 16.4 AB for Aaron. Throw in the fact that Bonds was clearly a better defensive player and basestealer than Aaron, as well as the fact that amphetamines (otherwise known as greenies) were widely used during the 50's and 60's, and it's clear that Bonds is better than Aaron.

The real question is whether or not Bonds is better than Ruth. There's no easy answer to this, as Ruth has better statistical numbers, but had the advantage of short right field porches in both Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds (where the Yankees played until 1923), as well as not having to face Latino or African-American pitchers.

Mark McGuire is just as vilified as is Bonds

No, he's not.

Yeah, there can be no doubt that racism is behind the loathing of Bonds and "the pass" that sportswriters gave to McGwire. How else to explain the overwhelming margin by which Mac was voted into the Hall of Fame?

Nice sarcasm, but you're missing the entire pt, which is that the sportswriters gave McGuire a pass when he was still playing and they knew very well that he was juicing. Of course they have to pretend *now* to be shocked and appalled.

And as for all the asterisk shit, Ruth was batting against ridiculously subpar pitchers compared to today. Barry, OTOH is batting against juiced pitchers (why don't we ever hear anything about the juiced pitching?) If anything, he's just leveling the playing field.

Nice sarcasm, but you're missing the entire pt, which is that the sportswriters gave McGuire a pass when he was still playing and they knew very well that he was juicing. Of course they have to pretend *now* to be shocked and appalled.

Yes now that you mention it I do remember the grand jury investigation into Mark McGuire's drug use was ignored by the sporting press back then. Same with the lilly white Sammy Sosa...

Oh wait.

Adding Sammy Sosa into the mix actually highlights the problem of race in the United States.

Happy smiley foreign-born playing-to-the-crowd black people just aren't as threatening as a US-born-and-raised African-American man with chip on his shoulder.

Happy foreign guys aren't a threat to the status quo in the United States.

Yes now that you mention it I do remember the grand jury investigation into Mark McGuire's drug use was ignored by the sporting press back then.

Really? There was a GJ investigation in 98 into McGuire's drug use? Or are you just spouting more horse shit?

Adding Sammy Sosa into the mix actually highlights the problem of race in the United States.

Happy smiley foreign-born playing-to-the-crowd black people just aren't as threatening as a US-born-and-raised African-American man with chip on his shoulder.

Happy foreign guys aren't a threat to the status quo in the United States.

No happy smiley playing-to-the-crowd people of any race or nationality play better in the US than someone with a chip on their shoulder and several investigations into the very credible accusations of drug use.

The only status quo Bonds threatens is the one where drug use by athletes is frowned upon.

Really? There was a GJ investigation in 98 into McGuire's drug use? Or are you just spouting more horse shit?

No there wasn't hence the sarcastic "oh wait." Today Barry Bonds is most likely going to face perjury charges from the BALCO grand jury, possibly more, which is a major difference from the home run race in 98.

No drug existed in the days Ruth played

The Twenties was a time of great drug experimentation by flappers and scientists. The Babe may not have hung out with Freud, but coke was legal then and in use by the type of crowd he did hang with. Also, I do not know if sodium nitrate is a perfromance enhancing chemical, but the Babe's hot dog eating prowess may have been the reason he hit so many homers.

Screw the steriods. Tell me again why Bonds gets to wear that armor on his arm and crowd the plate without fear of brushback like everyone else?

The real, more interesting issue here is, as usual, the media.

Aaron quite likely took greenies. Ruth probably did all manner of unsavory shit. But the media monstrosity we have today was not in place to create the Perfect Shitstorm. Talentless hacks like Tom Verducci and Dan Wetzel throw grenades at S.F. fans why? Because it "sells papers," (so to speak.) Not to inform, or to be "fair," or anything else.

The real story is this: Barry Bonds was one of a huge number of players - including eight pitchers he played against (and 5 he homered off of) who admitted taking steroids. (And those are just the ones who got caught.)
But he's a jerk, and he broke a hallowed record, so the Media Monstrosity creates a total freak show. For whose benefit? Yours, O Concerned Traditionalist? Bullshit. For theirs.

Whatever you think of the guy, he didn't cheat any more than a lot of players he faced did. This media carpet-bombing campaign sucked what little joy there was out of the event. And that's the media's fault as much as Bonds'.

The only media outlet to cover the story fairly? As always - The Onion.

Barry Bonds may have used performance enhancing chemicals

Fact: The chemist who developed the steroids for Balco says they were named the Cream and the Clear.

Fact: Bonds testified before the Grand Jury that he took these drugs.

Argue something else.
There is no dispute about this.
None.

I congratulate Barry for breaking the record. He has always been an outstanding player. I will admit to not liking him and wish he had not broken the record. Maybe I woul d like him more if he had hit one of those HR's in a playoff game for Pittsburgh instead of striking out.

Screw the steriods. Tell me again why Bonds gets to wear that armor on his arm and crowd the plate without fear of brushback like everyone else? Posted by: Jim 7

A lot of you can't seem to address one issue without opening up a new can of worms.

A better question is why doesn't the batter get one shot at the pitcher after being hit or be allowed to throw the ball back at (not to) the pitcher when "brushed back"? Seems only fair. Fuck this, "batter take your base." Call it a ball, then let the batter go out to the mound, pop the asshole one, and then dig in for the rest of the at bat. Dickheads like Clemens and Randy Johnson wouldn't be quite so "intimidating" if batters didn't have to worry about being plunked for crowding "their plate."

I realize it's "part of the game" and always has been. But there is nothing more bush league than the brush back. If a batter is stupid enough to crowd the plate, he's actually cramping his swing path unless he specializes on infield grounders off the handle. Throwing inside on him and hoping he's agile enough to get out of the way doesn't show skill but the exact opposite.

In terms of Onion stories on the subject I greatly prefer this and this.

Nied and Cazart:

Those Onion stories say it all. Thanks.

The chemist who developed the steroids for Balco says they were named the Cream and the Clear.

Just an aside -- the cream is just testosterone and the clear is just a slightly modified pharmaceutical. You can make the latter in your garage for 1000 dollars / gram. The guys at Balco were not chemical geniuses.

JeffII:

You perhaps have very limited knowledge about pitching and by definition baseball.

When a batter crowds the plate, every inside strike becomes close enough to be equivilant to a "brush back" pitch. Since every pitcher makes mistakes from time to time, for the pitcher to pitch to the inside of the plate when the batter is crowding, that pitcher has to either have total confidence in his accuracy or be willing to risk hitting the batter.

On the other hand, Barry Bonds's batting mechanics are extremely effective against inside pitches compared to most batters so he loses less from crowding the plate than opposing pitchers lose when they have part of the plate they aren't comfortable pitching to.

The armour does make it less risky physically for Bonds too, but as with crowding the plate that is something that is legal too.

MLB could outlaw armor, but basically the problem is just that Bonds, steroids or no steroids, is just extremely good at both the mental and physical skills that are at the core of batting. Other baseball players understand this.

It is a shame that the steroid issue takes away from [my] enjoyment of just watching Bonds play.

JeffII:

You perhaps have very limited knowledge about pitching and by definition baseball. Posted by: mirror

Tickets behind home plate at Safeco Field. So spare me.

They did outlaw the armor. Bonds was grandfathered in. Amazingly, his elbow never heals.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003621797

This is a bona fide anabolic steroid.
Former BALCO chemist Patrick Arnold.

http://tinyurl.com/38ogu9

Jim7:
Wow. That article has really given me a different view of the effect of Bonds' armor. I had never thought of it as anything but a protective device. Looking at it again, it does seem like it is way TOO MUCH device for the protective purpose alone. Reading the Michael Witte article, the critical letters, and the author's response to critics, I find his arguments compelling.

I'm going to have to think about how this affects my opinion of Bonds. [I have a just turned 12 baseball-playing/fanatic son and quite a lot of our life outside of games revolves around developing the individual mechanics of baseball. These questions of mechanics and character are not purely matters of trivia in my household.]

Lotsa people speculate about how many hrs Bonds would hit if he hadn't been juiced. Nobody seems to wonder how many Ruth or Aaron would have hit if they were facing today's juiced-up, beefed-up pitchers. To hit 756anything against these monsters shows an incredible amount of batting talent, something you can't get from the cream and the clear.

The real rap against Bonds is that he is a) an asshole and b) a choker. He choked in every playoff game for the Pirates and he choked for the Giants in '02. a + b is a lethal combination.

Our long national nightmare is over. Now back to focusing on baseball (something that's going to be far easier for Nationals fans, whose team has an actual future, than Giants fans, for whom the final 7 1/2 weeks will be an anticlimax of watching old men play mediocre ball).

Bitter Pittsburgh Fan:

You made my day. My coworkers are wondering what I'm guffawing about with the milk spurting out of my nose.

asshole + choker

I think it's sad.

I've never met him (not eager to), but everythign I've ever heard about Bonds is just... sad.

When Willie Mays was a kid playing in NYC, the rap was that he had FUN with it. I've never seen any evidence that he didn't.

But somehow, being so good for so long -- and man! I wanted HIM to break Ruth's record, not Aaron -- turned him bitter.

That's Bonds' godfather.

His Dad had real troubles of his own.

So you look at this guy, at the top of the extremely competitive family business, ya wonder what his retirement and the shunning by the Hall of Fame will be like, the hell of autograph shows, and ya think of what Ty Cobb is supposed to have said: "Looking back, I wish I'd had more friends."

Reading the Michael Witte article, the critical letters, and the author's response to critics, I find his arguments compelling.

I'd hesitate to take the word of an *illustrator* who doesn't understand basic physics and who is being paid by an unnamed major league team.

Rather, I'd wait to hear from a trained biomechanical engineer who is unaffiliated with Bond's competition.

This is a bona fide anabolic steroid.

Who said it wasn't?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrogestrinone

Why doesn't anyone want to erase Babe Ruth's records for illegal drug use (alcohol, cocaine-laced patent medicines) ?

None of the wins of Gaylord Perry or the Niekros were reversed, even though their "out" pitches were spitballs.

Pitchers like Clemens and Gibson would intimidate hitters by throwing directly at batters' heads, a clear violation of the rules. Shouldn't their "wins" be reduced for these rule violations ?

As previously explained, steroids augment a vigorous weight-lifting program. Merely injecting steroids won't turn David Eckstein into Albert Pujols.

H-Bob,

Maybe I'd be more inclined to agree on erasing Babe Ruth's records when you show me how alcohol & cocaine are PERFORMANCE ENHANCING drugs for swinging a bat. Because I would think it would have the exact opposite effect...

Have to wonder what Babe Ruth would have done on steriods.

Don't have to wonder what Lou Gherig would have done. No homers at all, The ball would have burst into little pieces each time he hit it.

Barry Bonds is the new American hero. We are so proud of him.

Disputo:

I kind of cooled to that analysis of the hinged armor by the time I got home from work, but it still looks like an awful lot of hardware not to doing something more than giving Bonds piece of mind.

I'll hope there is a competant biophysicist report, and wait.

Between the body armor, steroid shrunken privates, and helmet the size of a beachball, Barry Bonds has little to fear from inside pitches. This allows him to crowd the plate and rightly pisses off steroid taking pitchers who generally count on fear keeping batters from reaching beyond the center of the plate.