Bonds Hits #756

Mike Bacsik never had a chance. Armed with a mid-80s fastball and a variety of decent off-speed stuff, Bacsik is not the type of pitcher that can get Barry Bonds out. With a 3-2 count in the 5th inning, Bacsik challenged him with an inside fastball, and Bonds turned on it, sending a few rows up into the deepest part of the ballpark, just left of center field. Barry knew it as soon as he hit, raising his arms in the air. Upon seeing Bonds' reaction, Bacsik knew he had served up a piece of history.

I was working late last night, so I had that game on in the background since nothing else was on TV. When Barry came up, I felt motivated to set down what I was doing to watch his at-bat. He didn't disappoint with the big homerun. I've been very lucky in regards to seeing memorable HRs. Although I didn't watch baseball in college very often, I flipped through the Cubs/Cardinals game, and I just so happened to watch McGwire hit a line drive that just got over the left field fence at old Busch stadium for HR #62, breaking Maris' single season record for HR. I was at a bar the summer that Bonds hit #71 deep into McCovey cove to break McGwire's single season record of 70, and happened to watch that at-bat on a corner TV. Last night, I got to watch Bonds break another record, the big one, Hank Aaron's HR record.

I had been pretty blah on the whole Bonds situation this year up until last night. I was rather surprised at how excited I was last night watching him break the record. As a sports fan, whenever you get to watch history, you usually remember where you were when you saw it. I doubt I'll forget where I was last night. It was far more memorable than McGwire's HR as it was a deep bomb of a HR, unlike McGwire's line drive that made you wonder "wait, he just broke Maris' record?" Bonds' reaction at the plate, Bacsik's reaction on the mound, and the crowd's reaction as the ball took flight were all very cool when combined together. There was quite a skirmish where the ball landed, as it hit something and bounced back and to the right a bit. Hopefully nobody was injured in the scrum. I give a lot of credit to Mike Bacsik, who tipped his cap towards Barry as he approached homeplate. It was a very classy move. I also give a lot of credit to the Nationals franchise for allowing Barry to have his moment of glory while applauding his accomplishment. Another very classy move.

The steroids talk really puts a damper on what he accomplished because there's no doubt in most people's minds that he used something, and he might still be using something. It's all hearsay evidence at the current time, but logic prevails for most of us and we understand what Bonds has done. The fact is that Bonds is not the only guilty party here, despite what most of the media would like you to think. Steroids is not a Bonds problem, it's a major league/minor league baseball problem, in the scope of the sport of baseball. I'm sure it has spread to college and even high school as time has gone on. MLB, in an ignorant PR move, has shined the light of steroids brightest on Barry Bonds because he's the easy scapegoat. If he's found guilty, persecuted by a court of law, whatever...baseball hopes that the fans think that sport of baseball has won the war against steroids. Don't let them make you think that.

The steroids scandal in baseball is far, far greater than Barry Bonds. It infiltrated the sport and an unknown amount of players have taken them in their quest to become a better baseball player. Baseball cannot weed it out of it's history because the roots are way too deep at this point. We as fans cannot possibly fathom how many players were taking them, how many managers and coaches turned the other way, and how many league official turned the other way until the situation got too big to handle and baseball was forced to battle it in the public eye. They made that very same public eye stare at Barry Bonds and try to detach the vision against the logic of the brain behind it to say "he's the problem, not us". Can you imagine what baseball would have to go through if they unveiled the entire truth? Years upon years and players upon players would be put through the wringer. It would cast a black cloud over the sport of baseball that wouldn't lift for who knows how long.

I am sure that Bonds has played with steroid users, against steroid users, went to battle against steroid using pitchers, caught fly balls from steroid using hitters, and so on. The fact is, Bonds was a better player than almost all of them. Bonds was selected because of the records he was breaking. If you look at his career stats, you see some of the greatest numbers you've ever seen. Not just the HR, but the SB, the RBI, the AVG, the gold gloves, and so on. It's impossible to say when he started to take them, or if he had been taking them all along. You could do a chronology of what he looked like each year, but that wouldn't give you any clear evidence one way or another. There's also no clear evidence as to how exactly steroids enhances your play, so who knows exactly what has been affected by his usage. Regardless of this, Bonds is still one of the greatest baseball players we have seen play the game. In his prime, there was nothing he couldn't do.

The other thing to take into account here is the change in baseball players preparation for the game. Strength training is more emphasized than ever, starting in the 90s. In fact, society as a whole seems to have a greater fascination with lifting weights. Baseball players are bigger today than they ever were thanks to the enhanced technology of weight training, knowing our bodies better, creating effective workout supplements, etc. Players today, thanks to that, are going to be stronger, playing in similarly sized parks, so HRs are going to be a bigger part of the game. Who's to say exactly how many HRs Bonds would have hit had he not taken steroids knowing this trend?

Finally, I respect Bonds for what he went through to achieve this. In today's game, the media scrutiny of every aspect makes it even tougher to mentally prepare for the game. There's interviews, public showings, cameras, thousands upon thousands of media members analyzing every little thing. Aaron had to go through a lot himself to hit 755 HRs. He went through racism, death threats, and incredible hatred to get where he was. Bonds has also gone through a lot. He's endured hatred at every away game, constant media bombardments and accusations, the national media following every game in a way that Aaron didn't have to deal with, among other things. Now, a lot of what Bonds has gone through was his fault as to where Aaron didn't deserve any of it. Bonds was the one who took steroids and Bonds is the one who's been surly to the media in the past. Still, regardless of that, Bonds still had to deal with all of it in his quest to become the HR king, and he dealt with it successfully. That deserves at least some credit, in my opinion.

Minor league players have been caught with steroids that were having horrible careers. Guillermo Mota was caught, and he was nothing more than a good reliever. Jason Giambi was caught, and while he was a good hitter, he was nowhere near the level Bonds is at. This is only a very short list of steroid users in the game of baseball. The bottom line is that Bonds is a cheater in a game of cheaters, but he's still the best baseball player of any of them.

Congrats to Barry on his 756th HR. I enjoyed watching it.