Bonds: Tainted record, or era?
Sunday afternoon, I decided to sit back, drink a cold one (a
Pepsi of course), and watch the San Francisco Giants play the
Boston Red Sox in the final game of their first visit to Fenway
Park and the
”
Green Monster
”
in 95 years.
Bonds: Tainted record, or era?
Sunday afternoon, I decided to sit back, drink a cold one (a Pepsi of course), and watch the San Francisco Giants play the Boston Red Sox in the final game of their first visit to Fenway Park and the “Green Monster” in 95 years.
The Giants ultimately lost 9-5 Sunday as the Red Sox completed the sweep of the last place team, but the Giants didn’t leave “Beantown” without number 748 leaving the building.
Barry Bonds’ latest dinger leaves him just seven shy of Hammerin’ Hank Aaron’s record of 755.
This home run started a “friendly” debate between my aunt, my brother and me. My aunt asked the question, the one that I knew she was going to ask: “Do you think Bonds took steroids?”
My answer to that question is yes. I truly believe that he did take steroids. I mean who can get that big that fast without a little help from the “juice”?
Many people, both inside and out of baseball, also believe he juiced up, and want him out of the league and his records taken away.
I think that is unfair, and this is why.
I believe that Bonds was not the only one who took steroids, so he should not be the only one punished. How does any one person get punished for the so-called “Steroid Era” in baseball when nobody really knows how many players took steroids?
I believe not only were hitters taking steroids, but pitchers were as well. Those home runs that Bonds jacked when he was allegedly on steroids could have been hit off of pitchers who were also on the illegal substance.
The percentage of baseball players, pitchers or hitters, that used steroids is, and forever will be, unknown. So it seems unfair and unjust to punish Bonds for his actions when others might get away with it.
Bonds is not the only one being investigated for taking steroids, but he is taking the brunt of the wrath from fans and the media, and I don’t understand why.
Yeah, he did hit 73 home runs in a season, and many people say, even me, that he had a little “help,” but Mark McGwire hit 70 just three seasons before, and he had “help” as well.
McGwire’s case is somewhat different, in that it is believed he may have taken steroids early in his career. The substance he used during his record breaking season, Creatine, was legal at the time, but if it still boosted his strength, what is the difference between him and Bonds?
I could go on and on about this subject and a few would even side with me, though more then a few would disagree with me.
Ultimately, I think that there should be no asterisk, as some people are asking for, next to Bonds’ name noting that he took steroids, because then you would have to asterisk the last 15 to 20 years of baseball history. I do feel however, that there should not be any form of ceremony when Bonds breaks Aaron’s record, which will happen. Nobody wants to condone the history of the steroid era, as well they shouldn’t. And Bonds, who has done little for the game that has given him so much, doesn’t really deserve a ceremony anyway.
If Bonds thought he deserved a ceremony for his accomplishments, he would have done the right thing a long time ago, and just come clean. If he followed the example of Jason Giambi, the New York Yankee/former Oakland A’s slugger who admitted his own steroid use, I feel that more people would be on his side.
But Bonds is not the bigger man and he won’t come clean, and no one else is going to come clean either. The past 15 years or so are already tainted. Punishing Bonds will not change that fact.
