Bonds Breaks Aaron’s Home Run Record
Barry Bonds finally hit his 756th career home run last night in San Francisco. To his fans in the city by the Bay, it was a moment of triumph and glory. To his legions of detractors, it was a time to remind the world of Mr. Bond’s alleged use and abuse of steroids that has tainted his career and baseball. To this journal, it was a moment of relief that a piffling controversy over a statistic has drawn to a close so that baseball can return to normality.
The count was 3-2 in the home half of the fifth inning. Nationals pitcher Mike Bascik threw a fastball, and Mr. Bonds took it to right-center field, the deepest part of the appallingly named AT&T Park. Some 43,000 Giants fans cheered, and fireworks exploded over McCovey Cove. The game stopped for a brief on-field ceremony, during which Mr. Bonds said, “Thank you very much. I got to thank all of you, all the fans here in San Francisco. It’s been fantastic.” Given how long he’s had to think about it, one would have thought he’d have something more interesting to say.
The whining from the anti-steroid crowd took on tones of aggrieved dignity, or at least tried to do so. They claim he cheated by using these drugs that enhance performance (which sends a message to kids they don’t want to consider, that there ARE drugs that enhance performance, at least short term). Yet at the time of the accusations, baseball had no policy on steroids. While vilifying Mr. Bonds, they conveniently ignore the players who have recently tested positive, served a slap-on-the-wrist suspension and then signed bigger contracts to keep playing. Mr. Bonds is a jackass, but it seems he’s being treated with excess harshness on a technical point.
The other side of the argument comes from those who have an abiding faith in numbers no matter how badly they were compiled. Mr. Bonds hit 756 home runs, while Henry Aaron hit only 755. Quite true, but there are a lot of smaller ballparks than there were back in the 1960s and 1970s when Mr. Aaron did most of his base cleaning. Few have pointed out that the glove in baseball has grown in the last 70 years, making .400 batting averages much tougher and .999 field percentages a bit easier to reach.
And now, mercifully the whole argument is over. The baseball world can go back to its pennant races where things should be heating up nicely. Mr. Bascik becomes a trivia answer, and he says he and Al Dowling (who gave up Aaron’s 715th to pass Babe Ruth’s record) are going into the baseball card and memorabilia show business. Mr. Bonds can go back to his love affair with himself. Just once this season, though, it would be nice to see him try to beat out a ground ball, like a professional ball player would
© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.
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