A Quick Update on Barry Bonds and Me

Gradually, over the past days and weeks, public perception has softened towards Barry Bonds, I think. San Diegoans, in a microcosmic example of this change, booed Barry when he came to the plate but couldn't help but cheer when he tied Hank Aaron. My own brother is perfectly content about Barry having the record, at least compared to me. I still resent Barry for catching Aaron. The greatest record in sports shouldn't go down this way.

At the same time, I'm really starting to enjoy watching his games. Just like the Yankees at the turn of the millennium, baseball has a bad guy to root against. Every at bat that Barry doesn't homer gives me a little more satisfaction.

Equally enjoyable is watching the opposing pitchers battle Bonds. Tonight's game featured rookie John Lannan. The 22-year-old, 6-5 southpaw looked pretty nervous out there, peering out at Barry from the shadow of his cap. Somehow he popped up Barry in the first and got him to ground into a double play in the fifth. But even when he walked him in the third, it felt like a small victory. I imagine a double off the wall might be even more fun to watch happen.

I was marveling at the way the universe works, to bring this random guy, Lannan, to this point on this night. The guy was pitching in A+ Potomac at the beginning of the season. After 8 games he moved to AA Harrisburg for 6 games, then AAA Columbus for another 6. That's where he put up his best numbers. He gets called up July 26, a week ago realizes he'll be facing the Giants tonight, and two days ago realizes he'll be facing Barry sitting on 755. Crazy. He does look promising. He can get it into the 90s. Not much movement on his breaking ball, but he's not afraid to pitch inside. A lefty who can throw strikes, I'd say he'll stick around.

Just as suddenly as I have become a John Lannan fan, I've gained a greater appreciation and interest in Alex Rodriguez. I've already started to check the Yankees boxscores for a HR from the future contender for the record. Maybe clean, pure Ken Griffey Jr. can make a run up the list in his final years too. In any event, I'll be even more excited for the next home run champ than I would have been if Bonds hadn't juiced.

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My brother and I were looking at Bonds's stats the other day. Have a look for yourself. As Game of Shadows alleges, Barry was mad at the attention McGwire and Sosa were garnering in 1998. The chase for 61 captured the public so much that Bonds only finished 8th in the MVP voting despite hitting 37 HRs, 122 RBIs, 28 SBs, and .303. He knew they were juicing, so he decided to show everyone once and for all that he was better than them. The statistical leap in 1999 and beyond is so incredibly obvious. The stolen bases disappeared, and his old peak of 46 HRs became his new average.



P.S. Lannan just struck out Barry to end the seventh. Barry swung and missed at the last two pitches. I was grinning with the count 3-2 and, sitting alone in my basement, I cheered after strike three. Great stuff.

Crazy insane or insane crazy?

Let me be clear: I don't hate Barry Bonds. But, if Barry Bonds were hanging by his fingertips over the side of a dangerous cliff, and next to him the New York Yankees were similarly hanging, and I was the only person who could save one of them from certain death, I'd forgive New York the 2001 ALCS and their decade plus of pure evil, and I'd save the Yankees.

So, there's my bias.

I thought it was a widely held one, but then I saw this survey. No doubt you did, too. About 48 percent of American baseball fans don't really care if Bonds breaks Aaron's career HR record? Fully 37 percent of them wish that he would? Wow. Crazy.

We are clearly in the steroids era. Trying to keep Bonds out of the Hall of Fame would be a mistake, I think. Even if he gets caught with steroids, I'm not sure you can ban him from the Hall completely. At this point, with the wide and varied list of cheaters, I think baseball fans should operate under the assumption that just about every player was dirty. And if that is true, it is hard to punish even those who are caught.

But, that doesn't mean that we cannot root against Bonds' 756th HR. He's the poster boy for an era that embarrasses me. I'm even afraid of ARod and Pujols, who might be poised to shatter whatever figure Bonds could post. Even those guys seem too closely connected to baseball's dirty present for me to feel comfortable with them in any serious baseball record book.

I'm OK with a record book dominated by hitters from the steroid era. Hell, dead ball era pitchers dominate that half of the ledger still. But, I don't want cheaters to establish records that aren't likely to ever be broken.