Barry Lamar Bonds

[Steff]

There's plenty of instances of Bonds being a jerk to fans. There was an ESPN.com spring training article a few years ago that began with an anecdote about Ray Durham arriving and being met by a bunch of fans asking for autographs, and he obliged. When Barry showed up, he yelled or said something to the effect of "Don't you people have lives?" But there's also plenty of stories about him being gracious and kind to people. When I read Jeff Pearlman's Love Me, Hate Me, I would hate Bonds one moment and almost like him a few pages or a chapter later.

 

As for the record...it sucks that it came to this, it's very likely Bonds did use performance-enhancing drugs (I think he did). But he hasn't tested positive, and he wouldn't have even been breaking the rules of the game until 2002. If they put an asterisk next to this record, or wipe it clean, the same has to be done for EVERYTHING from about 1980 to 2004.

 

 

For the record, I'm aware Bonds can be a s***. I've just not seen it so I share the other side.

[Steff]

Yep. Show me a pro athlete without a massive ego and an occasional mean streak and I'll show you a someone who won't be playing at the professional level for very long.

 

FWIW, a former roommate of mine played college ball with a guy who ended up in the Orioles farm system. Apparently this guy got called up one day back in the late '90s and, when walking out to RF one day, Cal Ripken completely b****ed him out for (gasp!) walking across the dirt on the left side of the infield. Even the nicest guys in professional sports can act like complete asses at times.

 

 

 

Oh Lord.. you would be ill beyond your past worse illness if I repeated things I saw first hand in Baltimore from '97 to '99. Cal is not so nice. And Brady Anderson... oye. I asked Canseco if he wrote another book to PLEASE out Brady. The things some of these guys do is simply repulsive.

[hammerhead johnson]

Butthead: That sucks

Beavis: Yeah, really

[WCSox]

When I read Jeff Pearlman's Love Me, Hate Me, I would hate Bonds one moment and almost like him a few pages or a chapter later.

 

Great book. It's too bad that we don't see more of the "good Barry" that he talks about.

 

After reading the book, I kind of felt bad for the guy. Growing up with a raging alcoholic father who embarrassed the hell out of him and his family must've been tough (not to mention the lack of a mentoring father figure). And it probably didn't help when not only his father, but Willie Freaking Mays of all people, told an impressionable young Barry that he'd have to act like a complete ass to the media if he wanted to survive as a superstar black athlete.

Edited August 8, 2007 by WCSox

[bjm676]

If I were the guy who caught the ball, I would draw a big, giant "*" on the ball, then give it to him.

 

Glad I was coming home from the Sox game and not paying attention to this. I had better things to worry about than this tainted record.

[whitesoxfan99]

If I were the guy who caught the ball, I would draw a big, giant "*" on the ball, then give it to him.

 

No you wouldn't. You would sell it like any other person on this board.

[Gregory Pratt]

I'd tag it and sell it afterward. It'd still sell.

[WCSox]

I'd tag it and sell it afterward. It'd still sell.

 

And probably for less money, as the buyer would likely be a Bonds fan.

 

[Gregory Pratt]

Or a big collector.

 

It'd sell for enough money to make me happy.

 

It's all mental masturbation, though, since I didn't catch it and won't be catching any of his homerun balls this year.

[witesoxfan]

I'm just glad it's over, I was really sick of hearing about it. I think the homerun record is overrated. It lasted like 33 years and it takes 20 some odd years to break. So when you think about it, that's not that long.

 

I think other records in baseball are way more unbreakable. Like do you see anyone anytime soon breaking Ricky Henderson's stolen base record or the strikeout record?

 

You think the most famous record in sports is overrated? Why do I have a hard time believing that?

 

And you've apparently never heard the saying "records are meant to be broken." When they are set so high that they have become unreachable, they lose all of their glamor and fun.

[witesoxfan]

And for anyone to think for a second that ARod or Pujols are just going to storm to the record and take it with no one booing or questioning how they got so big, you're wrong. There will always be controversy. It hasn't been brought up yet because they aren't close and nothing has come out yet.

[AirScott]

I think the worst part of watching Bonds' pursuit of 756 is that he walks half the time. I started tuning in to all the ESPN2 games once he hit 754, and the redeeming factor was that there were some pretty good games without Bonds homers. My favorite aspect leading up to 756 was Scott Hairston's finest hour, when he hit a three-run home run in the eighth to tie the game and then hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning.

[Steff]

And for anyone to think for a second that ARod or Pujols are just going to storm to the record and take it with no one booing or questioning how they got so big, you're wrong. There will always be controversy. It hasn't been brought up yet because they aren't close and nothing has come out yet.

 

 

Lots of folks suspect Pujols of being assisted as it is. If ARod stays this productive for the next 6 years people will absolutely cry foul.

[AirScott]

And for anyone to think for a second that ARod or Pujols are just going to storm to the record and take it with no one booing or questioning how they got so big, you're wrong. There will always be controversy. It hasn't been brought up yet because they aren't close and nothing has come out yet.

Well Canseco apparently has "stuff" on A-Rod for his next book. Why not just put it in Juiced? He's not exactly on the level of the guys who wrote Game of Shadows, so I question his investigative reporting skills -- especially when Juiced had anecdotes like "early one season I hit a double and at second base I told Bret Boone he looked like he gained some muscle. Boone winked at me, so I think he did 'roids."

[Steff]

Well Canseco apparently has "stuff" on A-Rod for his next book. Why not just put it in Juiced? He's not exactly on the level of the guys who wrote Game of Shadows, so I question his investigative reporting skills -- especially when Juiced had anecdotes like "early one season I hit a double and at second base I told Bret Boone he looked like he gained some muscle. Boone winked at me, so I think he did 'roids."

 

 

Just because the guy is about as articulate as a box of rocks doesn't mean he's FOS. Raffy confirmed that for him.

[AirScott]

Just because the guy is about as articulate as a box of rocks doesn't mean he's FOS. Raffy confirmed that for him.

I wouldn't doubt that a lot of his stuff about him and Palmeiro or McGwire in the bathroom stalls or whatever is true. And I even think Bret Boone could have been a user. But to come out now and say he has "stuff" on A-Rod, when he hasn't been in the majors since 2001 and hasn't even been in spring training for a few years. So how did he get his information on Rodriguez when everything else he had in his book were hunches, hearsay and personal experiences?

 

And fill me in if I'm misinformed, I wasn't about to drop $20 for that book.

[Gregory Pratt]

And for anyone to think for a second that ARod or Pujols are just going to storm to the record and take it with no one booing or questioning how they got so big, you're wrong. There will always be controversy. It hasn't been brought up yet because they aren't close and nothing has come out yet.

 

The reason Bonds gets the criticism is because his suppliers got busted (Balco) and others have publicly spoken about him (Sheffield) and he's grown so much. It isn't just because he was chasing the records. Nobody's on Miguel Cabrera yet, fair or unfair, because he doesn't look like he's juiced, nobody's said that he's juiced and he hasn't much changed except for getting fat, and I doubt anybody truly does unless there's something there.

 

I don't care for Alex Rodriguez or Pujols, either, but nothing's out on them for sure. Pujols, though, is not someone that I think will hit all of these homeruns. I think he's going to break, and I've heard that a lot of scouting reports worry about his longevity.

 

[WCSox]

Just because the guy is about as articulate as a box of rocks doesn't mean he's FOS. Raffy confirmed that for him.

 

Yep, and not to mention Giambi. He confirmed everyone's suspicions about Mac, Juan Gonzalez, and Brett Boone as well.

 

Many negative things can be said about Canseco, but much of "Juiced" has been proven to be accurate.

Edited August 8, 2007 by WCSox

[jackie hayes]

And for anyone to think for a second that ARod or Pujols are just going to storm to the record and take it with no one booing or questioning how they got so big, you're wrong. There will always be controversy. It hasn't been brought up yet because they aren't close and nothing has come out yet.

I agree with the basic point that all the numbers are tarnished. Sure, there'll be questions. But I'm not so sure there'll be leaked grand jury testimony, dosage instructions, private blood work... -- or sustained career peaks the likes of which have never been seen happening as they approach 40.

[Steff]

I wouldn't doubt that a lot of his stuff about him and Palmeiro or McGwire in the bathroom stalls or whatever is true. And I even think Bret Boone could have been a user. But to come out now and say he has "stuff" on A-Rod, when he hasn't been in the majors since 2001 and hasn't even been in spring training for a few years. So how did he get his information on Rodriguez when everything else he had in his book were hunches, hearsay and personal experiences?

 

And fill me in if I'm misinformed, I wasn't about to drop $20 for that book.

 

 

Surprisingly, as much of a snake as he is... he has a lot of close active players as friends. That speaks very loud to me in terms of how legit his info may be. Regarding ARod, I bet his dirt on him is related to his girlfriends. Big shock there. "MLB player cheats on his wife... and in other news.. the sun rose today."

[Balta1701]

The reason Bonds gets the criticism is because his suppliers got busted (Balco) and others have publicly spoken about him (Sheffield) and he's grown so much. It isn't just because he was chasing the records. Nobody's on Miguel Cabrera yet, fair or unfair, because he doesn't look like he's juiced, nobody's said that he's juiced and he hasn't much changed except for getting fat, and I doubt anybody truly does unless there's something there.

And because he admitted he juiced to a grand jury...he just said he didn't do so intentionally (thus making the perjury case much harder to prove).

[whitesoxfan101]

Lots of folks suspect Pujols of being assisted as it is. If ARod stays this productive for the next 6 years people will absolutely cry foul.

 

I wouldn't bet on it, unless he goes from a 30 homer or so a year guy to hitting 49, than 73, than 40 a year while walking 200 times a year and having OPS's in the 1.200 or so range starting at age 37 and into his 40's, all the while having a moutain of evidence connecting him to a state of the art steroid factory and having his shoe size go up by 3 and head size by 1 and a half.

 

To clarify, I mean that about A-Rod. I'm very suspecious of Pujols on the other hand, and there is reason to be.

Edited August 8, 2007 by whitesoxfan101

[WCSox]

I wouldn't bet on it, unless he goes from a 30 homer or so a year guy to hitting 49, than 73, than 40 a year while walking 200 times a year and having OPS's in the 1.200 or so range starting at age 37 and into his 40's, all the while having a moutain of evidence connecting him to a state of the art steroid factory and having his shoe size go up by 3 and head size by 1 and a half.

 

To clarify, I mean that about A-Rod.

 

If A-Rod doesn't suddenly acquire Hulk Hogan's physique and Mr. Potatohead's noggin in his late 30's, I don't think that as many people will suspect him of juicing.

 

[Linnwood]

No you wouldn't. You would sell it like any other person on this board.

 

 

Honest to God, if I had that ball I would destroy it. A sad day for baseball.

[Soxbadger]

If I would have caught the ball, I would have given it to Barry for free on the condition that I get to meet him and maybe have dinner.

 

Just being able to say that I caught the ball would be enough for me, and I would never even consider giving the ball to anyone but Barry, so i wouldnt rake him over the coals. Some things in life are priceless, and to Barry that ball is priceless. He earned it, he deserves it, so if I had been lucky enough, I would have just told them to escort me to the dugout so I can hand him the ball.

 

I dont care if he cheated, I dont care about any of it, I dont know 1 person who hasnt cheated in some way shape or form.

 

In the end, if you arent cheating you arent trying hard enough to win.