He can go down as one of the greatest players ever to take the field, one of the most hated or one of the biggest cheaters. Love him or hate him there is one thing you can’t deny Barry Bonds is the player that defines this generations Major League Baseball. Is that a good thing???
He can be considered one of the greatest ever to play, can this be defined? YES. He has 762 Homeruns, 7 MVP trophies, 8 Gold Gloves, 12 Silver Slugger Awards and maybe one *. All this makes him a great player statistically, that cannot be argued. But what has he done for the game. Is Barry a baseball diplomat, does he help promote the game we all love? Not a chance.
Bonds has been accused of taking “Muscle Enhancing Drugs” or is it “Creams”. I can’t keep track. How much does this matter to the baseball fan. No question, Bonds still has many fans, just drive around San Francisco. Why is this? Is it because he is such a nice guy, a real humanitarian, or the way we see the world. It’s all about me, they’re against me. It’s not a team sport anymore it’s how much you can get for yourself. How much money, how much fame and how easy can I do it. I can take the easy way out and do just as good or better then the guy who worked hard at it.
We can’t put on the blame on Bonds for this, although many would like to but to say that baseball didn’t know that players were taking something is a joke? Guys like Barry, Giambi and Canseco (Jose not Ozzie) put fans in the seats. Attendance has been growing. And it’s because everyone looked the other way. Take a picture of Bonds from 1987 Rookie year and put it next to one from today. Notice any differences. A couple maybe. What happens ten, twenty years from now when he has everything wrong with his body. What will we say then?
Some of you may be asking yourself what is the point of all this, my point is simple. We really don’t care that players cheated, we continue to root for the home team and look the other way. We give the accolades ever if you took the short road. We, as fans, define the game. If we look the other way if continues. If we protest and demand change it will happen, it has happened. The game is ours to change for better or worse. So lets change it. Give him a * and note the “the cheaters” so future generation can look back and tip their caps to us. Oh and when your done doing that buy some really cool baseball memorabilia from us, had to put a plug in their somewhere or they won’t let me write my next rant. You can buy a framed photo of Bonds in drag to hang on your wall. Thanks and keep the lines drawn. Another article by Brian Cimler.
