ItsTheBlog™

There are a few different ways to look at the career of Barry, and I'm going to try to take an entirely objective point of view throughout... lets do this. At the end of the article I will reveal which category I fall into. Hold onto your seats, bee-yotches.

Viewpoint #1: The Giants fan slash I support Barry until the end of time fan: This approach is simple. Most of these fans are San Francisco residents, attend Giants games on a regular basis, and cheer for Barry because (a) he helps them win and (b) he's an amazing talent. They push the mere steroid issue aside and stick to the American way (kinda) of innocent until proven guilty.

Viewpoint #2: The Baseball Purist: This fan, most likely not a San Franciscan, despises everything that is Barry Bonds. He is a juice monkey, cheater, jerk, media-hater, lousy hitter (still confused on this one), horrible teammate. This fan is also very likely a Jeff Kent lover. The belief here is that not only should the title of HR King be stripped from Bond's grip, but also that he no business in the HOF/game of baseball. He should go to prison for a number of different heinous crimes. Generally, this fan has done their research and can hold an intelligent conversation about Barry Bonds and baseball.

Viewpoint #3: The non-Baseball fan slash I argue because it pisses people off fan: Generally the most despised of the views, this fan wavers on his take on Bonds an a weekly, if not daily basis. If he's talking to a Purist, he loves Barry. If he's taking to a San Franciscan, Barry's a douche bag. Most people with an "opinion" fall somewhere in this category.

Viewpoint #4: The Objective/Non-Purist/Non-San Franciscan/Student of the game fan: This fan generally tries to form an opinion of Barry based on more then his staggering increase in power, HR production, and bulging neck. (with or without "The Juice", no timeline can tell when it did or didn't start) This fan does not cast the Steroid Scandal by the wayside but does not give it credit for 100% of Barry's performance.


Now that that's settled, go ahead, take a few minutes and try to figure out (honest reflection time) what category you fall into. In the mean time (cue Jeopardy theme song), allow me to stat you to death, I just hope Skip isn't reading, he hates that kind of thing.

16, 25, 24, 19, 33, 25, 34, 46, 37, 33, 42, 40, 37, 34, 49, 73, 46, 45, 45, 5, 26, 23.

Mumbo Jumbo you say... Nay I say. Those are Barry's HR numbers, by year, starting in 86, ending in present. One. One season, Barry hit above 50 Homeruns. The infamous 73. The first 4 seasons Barry was under the age of 25. When he hit 25 years old, the age many players come into their "prime" and get their "man strength", he only hit fewer then 33 HR's in a year one time. He did that in 1991. He hit 40+ HR's three times in the 90's, five time's this decade. Not so staggering. So to say that Barry's HR production has completely taken off is absolutely wrong. I am not dismissing the thought of Barry using 'roids, I think he did, but it's not like they magically made him hit 80 bagillion homeruns for like 20 years. He hit 73 HR's one year. That year, Barry was 36, a polished big league hitter with an eye like no other. I remember watching the chase for 70, and I have never seen a hitter square up [in Lamen's terms, hit a ball directly in the center, in turn the ball being hit harder and farther then If you miss by a centimeter] as many balls as he did in so few of swings. Steroids cannot do this. What can, you ask? The best hitter to walk the face of the earth.

In case you're wondering, I would put myself in group #4. Is Barry a model citizen? No. Did he use steroids? We don't (and probably will never) know for sure, I'm guessing yes. The man has a career OBP of .445 and SLG of .608, equalling a mind blowing 1.053 OPS. That's really damn good guys. The only time he struck out 100 times in a year was his rookie year. Again, absoltely phenomenal for a power hitter (greatest all time). Last I checked, steroids don't improve contact percentage. He has 514 career SB's, of which 89.5% came before Y2K, so don't blame his speed on Juice. 2,541 BB's = 121 BB/year. Wow. Oh and he has 2916 career hits, so even if you take away all 757 HR's, he's still over 2000 hits for his career. Again, very mother humping good.

Call him a cheater. Call him a liar. Call his records tainted. In fact, call him anything you want.

I'll call him the greatest [hitter] of all time.

Labels: Barry Bonds, best of all time, juice

So I don't have an exact quote here for ya kids but I got to comment on Barry Bonds brilliant statement made about his new record. This isn't a direct quote but he said something along the lines of:
"It's not tainted, my records not tainted, go ahead and write whatever you want, it's not tainted."

Wow, seriously, it’s not tainted? Because all people have been able to say about this record usually sounds something like this:

"Did you hear about Bonds getting the new home run record Bill?"
"Yeah, Hank I sure did. Say did you hear that he was taking that there steroids?"
"Yeah, I think his records tainted."

There ya go, infallible proof that this guy’s record can’t be all that "taint" free. Feel free to chuckle at the words "taint-free."

In all seriousness, the guy’s record and career are always going to be in question. Whether or not he did really isn't the question, people are just going to say what makes this more controversial, that being, of course, that he juiced himself up. So say what you will and refer all hate mail towards itstheleague.com. Thank you and God bless Barry Bonds tiny testicles, because without them we wouldn’t have a whole new record on our hands. Just kidding. Once again refer all hate mail to itstheleague.com

Labels: Barry Bonds, Baseball, Home run, record, taint

He hit 755 and then 756. Now he'll leave and the controversy will die down. But this calm is merely the eye of the storm. Because a man like Barry Bonds will bring lots of questions and controversy when his name comes up for consideration 5 years after he retires for entry into Baseball's holy elite--Cooperstown.

But before Cooperstown, there will be a Riverside. Riverside? What's that about you say? Riverside, CA is home to the Bonds clan. Bobby Bonds, Barry's father was born and raised here in Riverside, CA (before the smog moved in of course). Bobby is a graduate of Poly high school in Riverside and also an inductee in Riverside's Hall of Fame before he died.

In fact, there is a park named after Bobby Bonds--the Bobby Bonds Sports Complex.

The question is, will his son's name come to adorn this tribute to athletic prowess in Riverside, CA? But if not Riverside, then where? Surely there must be some local community that is willing to champion the cause of this controversial athlete? And there will be. The question is where? And to what result?

Where?
How about Riverside? The setback will be the lack of a strong local connection to this community. True he does have relatives in this area, but will it be enough? Probably not. Barry Bonds has shown little affinity for the community that raised his father. If not Riverside, there will surely be a community in Northern California, perhaps San Francisco, that will take up his cause.

To what end?
The next question is the question on everyone's mind. Granted, if it is San Francisco which chooses to place him in its sports hall of fame, they will simply look the other direction when it comes to his scandalous past.

Why the controversy?
The main issue for Barry Bonds is that he has not apologized. In Bonds' eyes he has done nothing to warrant an apology. His stance is that he never knowingly took steroids. His statement may indeed be true. But the problem with that statement is that the general public simply does not look kindly at the "stick your head in the sand like an ostrich and ignore the obvious" defense. Even the law would refuse a defendant to argue this position to a jury.

No doubt, there will be lots of controversy surrounding Bonds entry into Cooperstown. His entry into any Hall of Fame prior to Cooperstown will probably garner substanial attention. But based on recent voting, it is still not likely that Bonds will see his name in Cooperstown--(outside of course the record for most career HRs).

Mark McGwire, a player with a steroid tainted past, garnered only 1/3 of the votes necessary for entry. Jose Canseco, a player who has come out and admitted his use of steroids and also fingered others, had a mere 5% of the votes on the ballots. Both these players tout incredible records (perhaps not as impressive as Bonds) but have failed to garner the votes necessary to enter the Hall.

If Barry Bonds does make it into Cooperstown, he won't be the first player to have used illegal drugs to reach baseball's holiest of places. At least one other player fits the profile of Barry Bonds. Despite heavy usage of illegal drugs, this player still had no problems when it came time to etch his name in history.

This player too was a heavy hitter. Home run after home run. Babe Ruth was a heavy user of alcohol which was illegal during the Prohibition Era (1920-1933). But Babe has no stint attached to this name. Why? Well, most likely because acts making alcohol consumption illegal ultimately were repealed.

Babe Ruth is in the Hall of Fame. His place in history is already etched in stone as one of the greatest to ever play the game.

It is Barry Bonds who is yet to see what how the history books will discuss his accomplishments. But this is quite sad. The problem with this is that it is Major League Baseball that dropped the ball on steroid use. It failed to come out with prescribed rules regarding the use of performance enhancing drugs.

An athlete will assume that he is allowed to act in any way that is not prohibited by the rules of baseball. For example, if an athlete felt hitting with a metal bat would be more advantageous for him, then he would be perfectly entitled to use a metal bat--assuming the rules of baseball did not prohibit this.

Regardless of whether or not Barry used steroids in the past, he is not using them now. He has never failed a steroids drug test. The general public is punishing Bonds because he used steroids in the past--before they were illegal. Because the use of steroids has now been deemed illegal, the public looks at Bonds with a leary eye.

And Bonds? Bonds suffers because he had no idea that using steroids would be illegal. Regardless of whether or not he used, because of the highly negative stigma associated with the use of steroids, Barry Bonds name will forever be tainted.

Jose Canseco...Rafael Palmeiro...Floyd Landis...Barry Bonds.

Regardless of whether they used or not, their names have already been associated--permanently--with intentionally giving themselves a leg or "syringe" up on the competition.

Any athlete wants a leg up and will take it no questions asked. It is only when the sport rules--often retroaactively--that a certain behavior, substance, or equipment is illegal that athletes suffer.

This is why Barry Bonds is MLB's #1 Victim. (Please note: I'm not a Bonds fan. I don't like the guy at all. I just think he's gotten a "bum" rap)

Labels: 756, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Cooperstown, Floyd Landis, Hall of Fame, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro