Asterisks, windbags & fools in high places

[nanwynnfan]

Will he? Or won't he? The questions have nothing to do with Barry Bonds hitting #755 or #756 during a particular game or at bat; but asked whether the Commissioner of Baseball, Bud Selig, will condescend to being in attendance.

Or, we are treated to former Commissioner Fay Vincent going on and on about his close friendship with Henry Aaron, ever the class act, and how Vincent is wrestling with his internal demons in differentiating between love of the Game and its hallowed records and his human biases, based of course, on his personal observation of clues, hints, innuendo and player hat size.

Then we have a commentator, hearing far more boos from a crowd than is audible on the television broadcast, completely overlooking the historic Dodger-Giant rivalry in one park and the customary visitor-home rivalry in another. Not only does he amplify the boo volume; but he is also compelled to explain it in terms of fans conflicted by their suspicions of the moral integrity of the player they all paid to see.

The Commissioner is invited to join the broadcast team in the booth; but he declines, for reasons unexplained, although the turn-down is definitive enough to provoke one to ask, why.

The finale is the terrible burden on broadcaster wardrobes, and the drain on the Commisioner, forced to schlep around after a player whose accomplishments he questions, also sartorially challenged - as if he were bivouaced in a Baghdad windstorm, poor fella.

Please, Barry, hit four in one game and put an exclamation point on the accomplishment. This old man is weary with asterisks, and the asses who seem to need them to justify their injured righteousness.

End of rant.

[1Perry]

I've been getting $4-$5 for 1987 Topps Bonds cards that you could buy for .25 cents 5 years ago. Go Barry.

[TylerDurden]

Originally Posted by 1Perry

I've been getting $4-$5 for 1987 Topps Bonds cards that you could buy for .25 cents 5 years ago. Go Barry.

They're probably being bought by federal prosecutors who want 'Exhibit A' to be what Barry looked like twenty years and three hat sizes ago.

[nanwynnfan]

"They're probably being bought by federal prosecutors who want 'Exhibit A' to be what Barry looked like twenty years and three hat sizes ago."


Good luck with that forensic approach. Over my lifetime I can recall 20 year BEFORE and AFTER photographic images of the likes of: Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Ingrid Bergman, Larraine Day, Diana Dors and Rosemary Clooney on the distaff side; and Babe Ruth, Bobby Cox, Joe Piniella, Don Zimmer, Al Gore, John Wayne on the male side.

Even lean, lanky Ted Williams went from 175 pounds to 215-220 pounds over the course of 2+ decades as middle age asserted itself.

As to hat size, leave it to the haberdashers ... is Al Gore on steroids??? Look at THAT head!

[1Perry]

There is a difference in getting old and fat and getting old and massively more muscular.

[noetsi]

Given that baseball had no rules for much of this period against steroid use they have limited options.

[Wiggen]

Bonds is a Roid-head, and his "record" should be treated with the same level of respect as any other record set by any other Roid-head. Which is to say, none at all.

[noetsi]

Is his behavior any worse than say Ty Cobb a virulent violent racist who once went into a crowd to beat up a fan who heckled him? If records get treated differently because of the (legal in terms of baseball rules) behavior of the player Bonds would have lots of company.

[dlb]

Unless steroid use can be proven, it's really not much of an argument against him. Even if it is proven, the only years that can be thrown out are the 'roid years, which will cost him the record, but leave him as one of the great sluggers of all time.

[nanwynnfan]

"Bonds is a Roid-head, and his "record" should be treated with the same level of respect as any other record set by any other Roid-head. Which is to say, none at all."

It would be easy to just say, prove it. However, just for the sake of fairness, lets review Bonds' career vs. Aaron's career BEFORE te 'roid rage came tumbling down on Bonds .

1. By age 35, Bonds had hit >40 HR in 4 seasons, while Aaron had accomplished that 5 times;

2. After Aaron had broken Ruth's record with something to spare, at 733, he continued playing for 2 more seasons with the following production:

.234/.332/.355; OPS = .687
.229/.315/.369; OPS = .684

These two seasons yielded 22 additional HR, thus the target at 755. Was it Aaron's right to hang in there for two extra years? Sure, but not much added polish to his career production numbers, or team contribution.

3. Within sight of Aaron's final record and coming off a season lost to injury, Bonds pursued the record [under more 'roid scrutiny and with no suspension, no convictions and no charges that would bench him], Bonds has produced as follows:

2006: .270/.454/.545; OPS = .999
2007: .272/.493/.556; OPS = 1.049

4. Over their careers, Aaron produced HR's at a 5.42% of AB, or 1 HR per 18.45 AB; Bonds has produced @ 6.04% or 1 HR per 16.56 AB; and Bonds has had the bat taken out of his hands by IBB incredibly more than Aaron.

This last bit responds to 1Perry who made a distinction between old and fat. I really anticipated that. I made references to the individuals named, but NOT at the point of their lives when they became decidedly obese; but that in-between age when each showed signs of middle-age spread, with a filled out Ted Williams, 40 pounds heavier than his 1939 playing weight, and still able to hit .388.

Two last statistical points: Runs Created/PA:

Bonds: 21.28%, or 127.68 runs created/600 PA
Aaron: 18.58%, or 111.48 runs created/600 PA

Or, the concept of RC/27 outs, which projects run production by a team composed of a player:

Bonds: 9.91
Aaron: 7.65

And all that totally without regard for stolen bases and/or defense awards, just as a backdrop.

[1Perry]

Really doesn't matter as Bonds will only have the record a handful of years. I'll have dumped all my Bonds cards long before that.

[Grandstander]

Selig's "appearance" last night in San Diego was a microcosm of the tainted aspects of the record. One wonders why Selig felt obligated to be there if his behavior was going to be such as to send the message that he, and by inference, MLB, did not approve of the event.

As Bonds circled the bases, there was Bud with his hands in his pockets and his face blank..that anything of note had just happened, you could not tell from his body language. The game was not stopped so that Selig could come onto the field and offer congratulations or stage a brief ceremony. Then, in his official message, Selig offered a left handed honor, making sure to metion that the reason he was there was that in America, one is innocent until proven guilty.

The commissioner's performance was such so as to shriek to the world, "This is not a joyous event, this is not something we welcome or embrace." If he was going to do that, he could have done it better by simply not showing up at all.

Please, don't take any of this as me defending Bonds, I'm a Giants fan with a realistic attitude about Bonds and steroids and would have rather not seen Aaron's record fall to a cheat. Even without the steroid business, Bonds always made it impossible to warm up to him in any manner beyond appreciating his baseball talent.

Rather, my complaint is with this fence sitting act by Selig and MLB. Yes, we acknowledge the new record holder...except of course he's a cheating SOB and doesn't deserve it.

I guess the lesson here is not to expect too much of our athletic heroes. We get the Cal Ripkens and Stan Musials and Lou Gehrigs, but we also get Babe Ruth drinking and whoring around and treating his own manager with public contempt. We get the violently psychotic racist Ty Cobb, the gambling addicted liar Pete Rose and now the surly egoist cheater Bonds. There is obviously no mandatory congruency between athletic talent and a properly heroic athletic personality. The well behaved George Bretts and Tony Gwynns behaved well because that was their personal pathology. The crude, rude Ted Williams and Gary Sheffields, also the product of personal pathologies.

The commonality is altletic greatness, but the commonality ends there.

[DR3AMR]

I don't really have any contempt for Bonds.

For every Barry Bonds juiced up HR, there's a dozen guys who used steriods that never were able to spare themselves from a major injury or post steroid suck. I think back and look at guys like Albert Belle or Brett Boone or Ron Gant or Brady Anderson or Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa.......yada yada yada. All those guys were the definition of steriod users and they were not able to maintain the same level of play for such an extended period of time like Barry.

I saw a lot of guys use steroids back in my college days. Almost every single one experienced some kind of injury that hampered them throughout the season. Whether it was a strained hammy or torn elbow ligaments, they could never avoid the injury bug because they didn't allow their bodies to adjust to the extra mass. The fact that Barry avoided these little nagging things or something much more serious is simply amazing IMO. He's been exceptional at prevention.

Baseball isn't like track or swimming or cycling where something in your body is going to give you a boost relative to your competitors. Its a game that is highly skills based. He still had to put the bat on the ball and drive it out of the park. And then you could get into the fact that he was able to do that in 2700 less ABs than Hank with pitchers walking him 200+ times per season.

But, its all moot anyway. ARod will probably hit 900 - clean.

[Grandstander]

Strange argument, dr3, that we should admire Bonds for being better at cheating than anyone else.

[1Perry]

Baseball isn't like track or swimming or cycling where something in your body is going to give you a boost relative to your competitors. Its a game that is highly skills based. He still had to put the bat on the ball and drive it out of the park.

I always disliked this arguement. At one time I could put the bat on the ball. Steroids can make the difference between a 400 foot HR and a 390 foot long out.

Nobody denies Barry could play. He showed it for years that he was better than average at the game. I have far far more respect for what Julio Franco accomplished late in his career than Bonds.