Two things have surrounded baseball since the 1994 strike: homeruns and steroids. There is no better poster child for both than Barry Bonds.
Ed Board loves its baseball – it’s the all-American sport for crying out loud! But we are tired of athletes cheating – cheating their fans, cheating the system and cheating themselves.
We love a good record-breaking story, but if it’s accomplished via illegal substances we’d rather not have it.
Nothing was more thrilling than the chase to pass Roger Maris’ 61 homers in a single season by Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire in the 1998. McGuire hit No. 70 that year and people thought the record would last another 30 plus years.
Then something troubling hit. McGuire admitted to using Androstenedione, an over-the-counter dietary supplement. Even though the substance was not banned, questions surrounded McGuire and plague him even today.
Bonds broke McGuire’s record in 2001 with 73 home runs.
While McGuire admitted to using a substance almost unprovoked by authorities, Bonds refuses to admit anything even when the topic has become a Congressional matter.
BALCO (the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative) is surrounded by controversy regarding steroids and is linked to a number of athletes, including Olympians. However, BALCO’s connection to Bonds is what has them in the most trouble.
In 2003 the IRS and FDA searched the BALCO labs and found anabolic steroids and growth hormones.
In 2006 Bonds’ name appeared in BALCO records along with Yankees’ Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield. Bonds continues to deny his use of steroids.
When McGuire hit No. 70, questions arose about his obvious size difference from his rookie year in 1986 and the record-breaking year of 1998.
The same questions surround Bonds, who earlier in his career was know as a “thirty-thirty” man, a player who would get 30 homeruns and 30 stolen bases in a season. Now it pains viewers to watch him trot around the bases.
Ed Board thinks it’s time for Bonds to prove his innocence or step off the plate.
Bonds is just 14 homeruns away from tying the greatest career record of all time. Hank Aaron hit No. 755 in 1976 and Bonds is coming close to breaking it.
Aaron himself said he would not attend any of the games in which Bonds could break his record. The family of Roger Maris was there every step of the way in 1998.
Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has said that there will not be any special service for Bonds. The accomplishment will be celebrated the same way any other is, with the team and a phone call from Selig.
The fact of the matter is that Major League Baseball has to do something. Someone has to come out and say that this isn’t special because Bonds isn’t about to break the record. It’s going to be a drug that is injected into his system.
