What’s the big deal. A-Rod, of my beloved Yankees will have the crown in 10 years anyway. I’m pretty sure that he has not taken the drug induced route or at least his head is not swollen.

Dan,

First, I’m sure the “hate” is rhetorical. Second, do you actually think baseball should have to add a rule that says baseball players need to obey the law? Grand juries and congressional hearings don’t happen because people break baseball rules.

Dan,
Lighten up. If we can’t hate unloveable, offputting, cheating athletes who break (“break”?) important baseball records, who can we hate?

er “stopped” I mean

How many of the early record-setting baseball players had personal trainers and/or nutritionists to help them keep their bodies in tip-top shape? Do today’s baseball players take advantage of computer technology that help them perfect their swings that Babe Ruth could only have dreamed of?

Maybe all new records set by the athletes of today should have an asterisk next to them since modern-day players are getting help in so many different areas (drugs or no drugs) that earlier players didn’t have access to.

One of the things that all great hitters have in common is exceptional eyesight. They pick up all the subtle cues as the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand about spin, speed, rotation, angle, etc. Their eyesight enables them to make better decisions about which pitches to swing at and how to swing at them.

Steroids enable a person to see better. That, even more than the upper body strength, is what makes steroids especially unfair in baseball.

This is a sad, sad day. Had I been the pitcher last night, I would have thrown him nothing but slow, fat grapefruits. The record is meaningless, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.

I love that Bonds claims he didn’t know he was using steroids. It sounds like Alberto Gonzalez at his congressional hearing.

Dan (1):

I’m very saddened that you’re saddened by the hatred. Hatred is not necessarily a sad thing. It can be a very un-sad thing. The fact that we are all united in our hatred of Baroids is one of the most un-sad things to come from this incident.

How about the class Hank Aaron showed congratulating Bonds? Guaranteed Baroids won’t show that kind of class when A-Rod destoys whatever record Bonds ends up with. I’m with Ellsworth (3). As much as I can’t stand the Yankees, I can’t wait for A-Rod to bring some integrity back to the record books.

Dan,

It wasn’t Bonds using steroids, it’s HGH for which there is no test. He could easily still be on that for all we know–as his personal trainer who has links to BALCO was rotting in his cell while being held in contempt for protecting him.

The problem with Bonds’s consistency is that 40-year olds don’t remain consistent and they certainly don’t get better as Barry did.

In 1999, at the age of 33, Bonds hit 33 homeruns and had seen his power decline four straight years. He then set a career high the next year with 49, then applied a bit more cream to break the record with 73, then followed it up with 46, 45,and 45. His HR rate per at-bat was also FAR superior that before 1999. Historical, in fact.

“Disclosure: I grew up in the Bay Area and am a Giants fan ”

Comment 1 revealed that. ;-)

Now this one:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/photo?slug=getty-73396228jj020_san_francisco&prov=getty

Slight difference.

Hah! I knew it! Dan’s a Giants fan. We can promptly disregard everything he said.

But seriously, Dan. Your argument is what all Giants fans are using as rationalization. His numbers may be consistent, but what’s problematic is that he’s still putting up those numbers despite his age. Baseball Crank provides the more revealing anaylsis:

Prior to 2000, Bonds was 34 years old and had a career slugging percentage of .559, with his two best slugging percentages (.677 and .647) coming at age 28 and 29. Since then, he has slugged .781, a 40% improvement on his career average and a 15% improvement over a five-year stretch compared to his career best season.

As to Bonds’ class, you can’t seriously believe that Bonds will be rooting for A-Rod to break his record. I understand you’re a Giants fan, but come on– that’s just naive.

“Stay Healthy Alex!”

As for Bonds-there’s the age factor, and Bond’s size as Tim in post 21 and 22 alluded to. Anyway, Alyssa Milano put it well on her blog this morning:

Let us not forget those who came before Barry Bonds, swinging their way into the books with grace. Let this time in baseball be a reminder of what this sport truly is and what I hope it will return to in years to come. Is he a cheater? Time will tell when his body weakens. He is innocent until proven guilty. Let’s not judge what we don’t know or may never know. But . . . we can judge what we do know. We know that this is a man who stays seated during his team’s celebrations. He just lounges, gnawing his seeds, while everyone else offers a hive-five, butt pat or knucks. Not Barry. He just sits there. This is a man who hasn’t sued anyone for the published accusations made against him. This is a man who appears so ungrateful for his successes. This is a man who fuels the fire with his inability to be gracious in the media (albeit circus). This is a man who has chosen isolationism over camaraderie. If he is a good person and we have it all wrong, then he is the best actor I have ever seen.

It was odd to me that his teammates didn’t seem elated when he crossed the plate. Maybe this is because he never seemed thrilled for them no matter what the feat. It seemed odd to me that he pointed to the sky longer than he embraced his son who was once again there to great him upon his return — a gesture that, when he tied the record at Petco (away from the doting Giants fans and boo’s sprinkled on top), actually tugged at my heartstrings. For a brief moment, when he carried his son in that embrace in San Diego, I thought: Perhaps we do have Barry all wrong.

Just as we love our heroes, we also love a good villain. A villain and a hero are two sides of the same coin. They are, in fact, inseparable. A villain doesn’t care what he has to do to achieve a goal. The villain cheats because he feels rules just get in the way and he works alone for what he believes to be “good”. A villain uses intimidation. A villain defies the laws of nature. A villain is only driven by ego. A villain is a character whose actions are important to the entire plot of the story. Barry Bonds is important to the big picture of baseball. He is a great media-made villain to the great socially made hero: Hank Aaron.

Right or wrong, it’s over. We are left with judgment relative to our own rights and our own wrongs. Hero or villain, Barry Bonds is our home run king and one of the greatest hitters baseball has ever known.

What are we left with? Nothing really. We are left with nothing and upon further reflection, that’s what makes me a bit melancholy. I sat with my dad and watched a game that I could care less about, while a man I have no compassion for, broke a record in the sport I love and I truly felt nothing. No tears of joy. No goose bumps. Not even anger.

http://alyssa.mlblogs.com/

Tagore,

As to Bonds’ class, you can’t seriously believe that Bonds will be rooting for A-Rod to break his record. I understand you’re a Giants fan, but come on– that’s just naive.

Yes, I do think he will. He said so himself. Not only that, but he did call A-rod when he hit his 500th home run, on the same day Bonds tied Aaron. The man may deride and despise the media, but he doesn’t deride or despise his fellow players. It’s never been his style to do so.

Now, let’s talk about Gary Sheffield, who supposedly also got his HGH from BALCO. If indeed this stuff aided Bonds, to better eyesight and stronger muscles, why didn’t it aid Sheffield? Not only that but consider that Bonds basically gets one or two good pitches to hit a night, if that.

I say that until all the facts come out, we should respect the fact that he is now the home run king.

Tim

As to the Gatorade thing, I wasn’t implying that Gatorade is on the same level as steroids as far as a drug is concerned, but it definitely is not a natural juice, one meant to quickly refresh the body. I’m just saying, earlier players never had Gatorade to help them out…

That’s fine. A lot of things are different now compared to a long time ago. It’s nearly impossible to compare players from one generation to the next. That’s why you can’t really say if Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds or Alex Rodriguez is the greatest power hitter of all time. But that’s not very important. What is important is that people not cheat and that competitions be fair. Today’s ball players are not in competition with players from fifty years ago; they are incompetition with the teams they oppose on the field. Everybody on that field can drink Gatorade if they want to. Steroids, on the other hand, are not available to law-abiding citizens unless they have a prescription. So taking steroids is cheating. Drinking Gatorade is not cheating.

You assume it didn’t help Sheffield, but you didn’t really look up his stats did you?

In 1997 he hit 21 HR’s. 1998 he hit 22. Right about the time Bonds peaked, so too did Sheff. HR totals beginnging in 1999:

34, 43, 36, 25, 39, 36, 34

He hit 193 HR’s his first 9 years in the league. He’s hit 276 in the nine years since (after the age of 31)–including last year when he only played 39 games, and this current season.

Don’t tell me steroids were no help to him.

We don’t car as much because Bonds’ nubers were astronomical and he was chasing historical records.

Any other arguments?

Tim J,

Let’s also keep in mind the other way that steroids facilitate cheating. HGH and steroids enable the body to heal faster, so a player misses fewer games because of injury.

Not only did Bonds’ and Sheffield’s performance improve over the years, it is very likely that the banned substances prolonged their careers.

Also, here is an amazing piece of trivia from baseballmusings. Stuff like this is what makes baseball a great game:

Bacsik’s father, also named Mike Bacsik, pitched for Texas and Minnesota from 1975-80. On Aug. 23, 1976, in a Rangers-Brewers game, the elder Bacsik faced Aaron two months after The Hammer hit his final career home run. Aaron singled off him in two at-bats. Thus, the Bacsiks became the only father and son each to face different hitters with 755 home runs.

Incredible, huh?

Re #35,

From appearances I’d say Poppy gets his strength the old fashioned way..from pizza and beer.

You can blog about anything you want if you’re hot.