Barry Bonds Part 1

Note: this was written in 2006 before Barry passed Mr. Ruth.


Everywhere I look, it is Barry Bonds this Barry Bonds that, steroid this and steroids that and Balco this and Balco that. All this madness must end now. I am not here to defend Barry whether he used steroids or not. I am not here to defend Jose Canseco, Ken Caminiti or the likes of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. I am here to set the record straight on who to blame.

I became a baseball fan when I moved to the United States in 1985. My grandfather introduced me to the game of baseball. As he was explaining the game to me he told me about the series in the early 80’s that he use to watch when we were all in the Philippines. He use to tell me how great Mike Shmidt was. At one point Mike hit 48 homeruns right? The was not good back then… it was great. To learn more about baseball, my brother and I started collecting baseball cards to learn more about the game. We then started playing backyard ball, pitching and such to learn the mechanics of the game. Then the unlikely happened, The Dodgers won the World Series in 1988 and I was the biggest Orel Hershiser Fan. Let’s see, Orel won the Cy Young award and Gibson won the MVP with .278 BA 23 homeruns and 77 RBI’s. Um, did you just read the stats that won the MVP? That sounds like the Rob Deer of 2006.

So, why are the stats so inflated now? We blamed the juice ball in 1994. We blamed Steroids in 2004? Its 2006 and now we hate the players we loved in the 90’s; Bonds, Sosa, Palmeiro, McGwire. Anyone remember Canseco getting the 40 40 in 1988? That was a big deal back then and you know you loved to watch him, is it a big deal now? Let’s take a look at who to blame.

Before 1994, who was the last 50 homerun hitter? Wasn’t it I recall Cecil Fielder? And before him? George Foster? That was a real exciting season when he hit 50. I mean before that, McGwire hit 49 when he was skinny, then I think Andre Dawson hit 48 and George Bell hit 47. I actually enjoyed watching those guys hit than when McGwire and Sosa went on a tear. I use to say that it did not matter if you took steroids or not because you still have to hit the ball. Have you ever tried to hit a baseball?

Im going to go on a tangent here for a minute. Yes, steroids made a huge difference in the game, the people who took it definitely benefited from taking it… guys like Sosa and Palmeiro. I’m not saying Bonds did not benefit from it cuz I think he did; but did you see that homerun he hit off Billy Wagner the other day? He hit a 99mph fastball 400-something feet. Barry is 44 years old! That pitch was 99mph and he still got to it! That tells me Barry probably got 100 homeruns off steroids but think the rest of his stats would be the same and the man can still hit, I don’t think he is stupid enough to juice up since 2004. The likes of Palmeiro, Sosa, McGwire… minus 100 HR in my book. But now let’s ask that question again, who is to blame?

Does everyone remember 1994? Yes, the strike!!! Does anyone remember the 1995 season? Well besides the fact that the Braves won their only World Series out of the 15 consecutive division titles. I think the only people that remember that season are Braves and Indians fans. Guys, baseball sucked, attendance sucked, fans were mad. I was mad at that strike but something had to give. So the first thing done was “juiced ball” We did a physics project my senior year in highschool in 1994 and yes, the ball bounced a little higher.
MLB had to do something to get the fans in the stadium and start making money. In comes Bud Selig. Great pitching was boring to people, I mean, who cared about an ERA under 3? The last great thing that happened to pitching prior to 1994 was that Whitesox pitcher getting 57 saves, Bobby Thigpen right? and Orel pitching 59consecutive shutout innings streak. I think MLB knew fans would come back if the ball started jumping out of the park. They figured this out when they saw Bo Jackson hit the homerun in the All Star game in Anaheim.

Please note that I am not trying to write a conspiracy theory, I’m just stating the facts that I have seen and noticed.

I think MLB knew that there was a growing number of players starting to use steroids at this time but did not do anything because attendance had to be brought up. So now the ball starts jumping out of the park but did people fail to realize that pitchers where getting stronger too? Of course not, why would MLB do anything like that.

So now let’s go to the McGwire/Sosa/Bonds era. Did you notice that everywhere these guys went, the stadiums were packed? Now why would MLB stop this? The revenue has been the highest they have ever seen since the strike… well ever, places like Kansas City, Cincinnati and other small market teams were packed when these players came to town. Why? Because they want to be part of history. Now we want to put an * on history because someone like Bonds is about to break the homerun record. Because Ken Caminiti came out with a book, because Jose Canseco came out with a book. MLB has to react. They don’t care, fans love baseball more than ever, where is Sosa? Mcgwire? Who cares, let’s fix things now so we can get back the integrity of the game! Integrity? FYI MLB, we have not had integrity in the game since the 1992 season.

Putting an * on history is wrong! Record books are record books. If they put an * on steroid users that were convicted then they would have to put an * on everyone that played baseball between 1993 and now. Not because everyone used steroids but some did and some didn’t. Ok, you have players like Juan Pierre, Ceasar Isturiz and Christian Guzman… ok wait lets take it further back for the old school folks… Ozzie Smith. These guys only hit 1 or 2 home runs a year. So what if the person who pitched the ball to them was taking steroids and the extra heat on the pitches allowed them to hit the ball out of the park? Shouldn’t you put an * on the likes of Pierre in the record books?

The bottom line is the * isn’t going to fix anything. Barry is not to blame because if they wanted to can him, they would have done it 5 years ago but he brought in fans so MLB and its owners would not have brought it up. MLBPA were not going to report it because of the constant salary increase from the revenues brought it by the game. Look who reported them in books first, retired players! Canseco and Caminiti. Well there is Omar Vizquel and I don’t really understand what his motives were. But now, everyone is freaking out because Bonds is about to pass Ruth, and possibly pass Aaron. MLB, don’t blame Bonds for this issue because you celebrated when McGwire and Sosa tied Ruth at 60 homeruns. I know you guys were there watching the game and your bank accounts rise. You guys already got Sosa and Palmeiro out of the game but not Bonds. Sure they are all in the tail end of their careers, you don’t need to ride them anymore, let’s oust them. But now the “integrity” of the game is threatened with Bonds passing Ruth so there will be no celebration. If this is the case, you better celebrate when Bonds passes Aaron to maintain the “integrity” of the game; Oh I would love to see the looks on your faces when that happens. Thank you MLB for making the business bigger than the game. Now about those *’s?