Barry Bonds has broken Hank Aaron’s all time home run record. That’s why I am not going to write about him or the record 756th home run he hit.
Nope. I am not going to write about Barry Bonds. I am not going to write about his steroid use, his mistresses, his scowling, brutish treatment of fans, the media and even some of his teammates.
I am not going to write about his tax problems, brought on by his unreported cash income from signing balls, bats, and anything that isn’t nailed down in a ballpark.
I am not going to write about his personal trainer Greg Anderson, languishing in jail on a contempt charge because he refuses to testify against Bonds and confirm that he and Victor Conte of BALCO helped Bonds bulk up.
I am not going to write about Barry Bonds because Barry Bonds is a cheat, a scoundrel, a woman abuser, and a tax dodge.
He is also the greatest baseball hitter who ever lived. But that’s another story for another day. For now, I think we should all boycott Barry Bonds coverage.
Do not read any articles about Barry Bonds.
Do not watch any TV shows about Barry Bonds.
Do not listen to radio programs talking about Barry Bonds.
This is why I am not writing about him. Giving Barry Bonds publicity of any kind will only encourage him.
My friend Richard Baehr of The American Thinker writes an article in which he makes one of the best cases I’ve yet seen to not think, dream, read, or watch anything about Barry Bonds:
There is no other player among the baseball greats whose career took a sudden and dramatic turn for the better at age 35 and over. All of the single season records highlighted above occurred from 2001 to 2004 when Bonds was between 36 to 40 years old. During those 4 years, Bond put up numbers never before matched in baseball history. A career .290 hitter, Bonds batted .328, .370, .341, and .362. A hitter whose highest single season slugging percentage had been .688 recorded the following slugging percentages: .863, .799, .749, and .812. Bonds’ on base percentage, never before higher than .461, rose to these season marks: .515, .582, .529, and .609. As for the OPS or SLOB, Bonds’ single season high had been 1.135 before 2001. His figures for the four seasons were :1.378, 1.381, 1.278 and 1.421.
Bonds SLOB or OPS (slugging percentage + on base percentage) numbers are ungodly. He obviously made a deal with Satan to be able to hit so well. This is another reason not to write about him; he is evil.
Contrast the personae of Barry Bonds with that of the man whose record he broke. There are few athletes in the history of sport who have exhibited more class, more courage, more humanity from the time they first stepped on the field to the day they hung them up than Henry Louis Aaron.
And Aaron has continued to be one of the finest gentleman in sports during his front office stints with the Atlanta Braves. He could have taken the easy way and not paid any attention to Barry Bonds. He could have refused to acknowledge Bonds accomplishment.
No one would have thought any less of Aaron if he had expressed his displeasure with Bonds’ cheating by ignoring him. But there he was, up on the big screen at AT&T Park graciously congratulating him. But what must he have been thinking? Whatever it was, the classy Aaron will keep it to himself.
Barry Bonds was the best player in baseball before he took steroids. I would have written about him back then. During the 1990’s, he was a three time Most Valuable Player, the most complete athlete in the Majors. He could do it all - run, throw, hit, hit for power, hit to the opposite field, and steal bases. He was a one man wrecking crew of a hitter who opponents feared facing with the game on the line.
But he was never a feared slugger. Bonds’ hits were screaming line drives that made it past the infielders before they could react. His homers were also of the line drive variety, the ball tending to find gaps in the outfield rather than make it over the fence. Only after he put on all that muscle did his home runs take on the rubric of majesty; towering fly balls that reveal the true power hitter. And now, he is one of the immortals, a deathless presence hovering over the sport for years, his achievement always stained by his own arrogant belief that the rules weren’t for him.
No, I won’t write about Barry Bonds. Tomorrow. Today, I, like anyone else who loves baseball, can’t think about anything else.
11:41 am
Brilliant.
12:33 pm
Compare the career home runs of what’s-his-name and Aaron. Aaron hit 40-or more home runs seven times in his career. His highest total was 47 (or maybe 48). His home runs were rather consistent from year to year, but, as you would expect, began to trail off as he got older. 1973 looks a bit strange, as his home run total went up to 40 - but keep in mind that teammates Davey Johnson and Darrel Evans also hit more than 40 that year, so opposing pitchers weren’t able to pitch around Aaron. Look at those numbers and you’ll see how obvious the cheating is.
12:42 pm
Juan:
You’re right, of course.
And Aaron’s homer total in 1973 was due to the tiny dimensions of Atlanta’s old Fulton County stadium - best ballpark in the majors ever to hit homers except now Coors Field has replaced it.
2:31 pm
Hi Rick,
Nice to see that you took a [brief] break from your usual faire to write this “non-article†about Barry Bonds.
I also read Richard Baehr’s article at The American Thinker that you refer to, but found it to be nothing more than a re-hash of Bond’s statistics and what everyone else in the MSM writes about Bonds. Like Baehr, I also grew up in the Bronx as a NY Giants fan. I was seven years old in 1951 when Willie Mays came up, and had the chance to see him play in person many times. I do agree with Baehr on his assessment that Babe Ruth was the greatest hitter in the history of Baseball, and Willie Mays the greatest all-around player. I continued to follow the Giants after they moved to San Francisco, but I am neither pro or anti-Barry Bonds. I consider myself to be just a baseball fan and try to keep an open mind. With that in mind, here are some thoughts about Bonds that you will never see addressed in the MSM:
Firstly, I DO BELIEVE that Barry Bonds “probably†used steroids at some point, either knowingly or unknowingly, but let’s look at some history. Bonds – and others - testified before a Congressional Committee in December, 2003. Testifying before such a committee is no small thing. Following these hearings, Bud Selig – who I consider to be the WORST commissioner in the history of Baseball – was “forced†to begin drug testing, So let’s look at Bonds after the December, 2003 Congressional hearings.
Firstly, I’m certain that Bonds has been tested MANY times since 2003 for performance enhancing drugs, NEVER testing positive.
Secondly, physically, Barry Bonds looks exactly the same today as he did when he testified in 2003.
When Mark McGwire testified, everyone was aghast at the way he looked. I don’t remember anyone saying that he might have been on the “Jenny Craig†diet. Everyone jumped all over him with comments like: “he’s a shell of his former self”, “an empty suit”, “shriveled up like a prune”, etc. But why haven’t we seen the same changes in Bonds’ body????
While Baehr and others are always looking at Bonds’ statistics up until 2004, let’s look at his statistics for the almost four seasons following the Congressional Hearings. Since those hearings, over the past four seasons, Bonds has 1051 official ABs and has hit 99 HRS. That’s 1 HR for every 10.616 ABs. Bonds did this between the ages of 39 and 43.
OF ALL THE PLAYERS IN THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL, ONLY MARK MCGWIRE has a higher percentage of HRs to ABs: 1 HR per 10.612 AB’s. I think we would all agree there is no doubt that McGwire was a major steroid user and he never played past the age of 37. Bonds also had 469 walks during this period - over 30% of his plate appearances, usually never saw more than one or two decent pitches each game, and had a constant stream of hatred and vitriol directed at him by the press
So how did he accomplish this during the past four years???? Of course MANY people will say: IT’S SIMPLE!
HE’S STILL USING PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS!. HE NEVER STOPPED USING THEM. HE’S FLAUNTING IT IN BASEBALL’S FACE.
I SIMPLY DON’T BUY THIS ARGUMENT. After the Congressional hearings, we had the BALCO scandal, and Victor Conte and Greg Anderson were busted. Are we supposed to believe that Bonds found a new drug supplier without skipping a beat and has continued to use up until today If so – considering the intense media scrutiny that he has been subjected to – where is the evidence that he has continued to use since 2003???? Don’t you honestly think that some shred of evidence of continued use would have surfaced during the past four years, or has Bonds “magically†continued his drug use undetected and unimpeded?????
The point that I’m making here is that while Bonds may have used – or DID use prior to those hearings, (I still do not accept the premise that steroid use can substantially improve someone’s batting average), we MAY have just been witnessing an incredible baseball player. And the fact that he may be “a cheat, a scoundrel, a woman abuser, and a tax dodge is irrelevant. He’s also one hell of a player…..
5:59 am
Bonds the “best hitter ever?” I beg to differ.
And tetvet, you need to know a little more about drug testing to make any definitive statements about the last 8 years of Bonds’ career. For instance, Balco was successful precisely because they developed a steroid that could not be tested for. In order to test for an anabolic steroid, the testing agency has to get its hands on the drug and analyze it, then devise a test to identify that particular compound. Develop a new steroid and you’re back in business.
Similarly, HGH still can not be reliably tested for. It leaves the system too quickly, though the effects last much longer.
6:01 am
Oh, here’s a reference on testing for HGH.
5:56 am
[...] For the most complete Barry Bonds smackdown read Right Wing Nuthouse’s Not about Barry Bonds. I am not going to write about his tax problems, brought on by his unreported cash income from signing balls, bats, and anything that isn’t nailed down in a ballpark. [...]
3:20 am
Where can I get my commerative bat signed by the man himself? Stop whinning. celebrate.