NEWS: Are You Rooting for Barry Bonds to Break Hank AaronÂ’s Record?

CULTURE: Are You Rooting for Barry Bonds to Break Hank Aaron’s Record?

Odds are if you’re white, you’re going to say “no.” If you’re black, you’re going to say “yes”. This, according to a recent study done by ESPN and ABC. Regardless, the story of whether San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds will/should eclipse baseball’s career home run record is the most polarizing and emotionally charged story in all of sport. Not surprisingly, most of the 800 baseball fans that were surveyed did not give a favorable opinion of the always-controversial Mr. Bonds.

ItÂ’s an interesting survey, the racial implications of which are both staggering and difficult to put into context. Are black fans rooting for Bonds in such great numbers because they feel heÂ’s been a victim of racism or because heÂ’s misunderstood or a bit of both? Are white fans really so unconcerned with BondsÂ’ race that it plays no factor in their overwhelming distaste for the man? Perhaps.

Frankly IÂ’m most surprised at how low the overall anti-Bonds percentage ended up. If you had asked me before I saw the results to guess how many people would say they didnÂ’t want him to break the record, I would have guessed mid-60% at least. ThereÂ’s no way I would have guessed that President BushÂ’s approval rating would be nine points lower than BondsÂ’. I guess there are more Giants fans out there than Republicans.

I kid of course, but maybe I thought that opposition to BondsÂ’ pursuit of AaronÂ’s record was so strong because of the way the non-San Francisco media treats him. Barry is, for a great many mostly valid reasons, almost universally reviled by the press. The press hates him not just for being an asshole and a cheater, but because BondsÂ’ attorneys convinced the Feds to subpoena two reporters in regards to BondsÂ’ leaked grand jury testimony. That subpoena led to an 18 month contempt sentence for the reporters in question. Their sentence was never served because the leaker eventually came clean, but the damage was done.

That is, in part, why it is much more common to see articles like thisÂ…

Â…than it is to see articles like this:

Whether youÂ’re rooting for Bonds or not, the above article is correct. Bonds is going to break the record. At the time this article was written, he stands at 745 home runs, 10 shy of AaronÂ’s venerated record of 755. At the blistering pace heÂ’s hitting taters at right now, he could surpass that mark by mid-June. The only things that can stop Barry now are a catastrophic injury (Bonds has been injured most of the past two seasons, but is healthy now) or a well-timed federal perjury indictment. If neither of those two things happen, the record will almost certainly fall by the All-Star break.

As someone who spent most of my teenage years idolizing Bonds, this is a difficult subject for me. When we (the Giants) got him, he was an absolute force of nature. The best defensive left-fielder of his generation, fleet of foot, with power and the best eye in the game. He had no real weaknesses except the strength of his throwing arm and his superhuman ability to be a total dickhead to anyone and everyone. Most importantly to me, he made us not “just another ballclub”, but a marquee team, on par with the Yankees or Red Sox or Dodgers. Bonds made me feel like I was watching something truly special every night out. And I was. The Giants were rarely a great team in those days, but he won more games for the black and orange than they had any right to through sheer force of his talent and will.

As he got older, the force of his talent and will didnÂ’t change, but his body certainly did. You can see the way his body morphed from a young colt to a muscled stallion in this video of his milestone home runs over the years.

While itÂ’s clear his body changed significantly, I feel itÂ’s important to note both the consistency and beauty of his stroke. My favorite sportswriter, the late great Ralph Wiley, once described his swing as the strike of a cobra. Lightning-fast, lethal and without a hint of wasted motion. That swing has never changed in the 20 years heÂ’s been a big leaguer. And oh, what amazing work he did with it.

While Bonds had always been a fabulous power hitter, he started really hitting home runs in 2001 when he shattered the single-season HR record by hitting 73. His previous career high had been 49. It set the baseball world on its ear. Pitchers stopped pitching to him altogether and managers intentionally walked him in ridiculous situations. Single-season records in all kinds of offensive categories fell with alarming regularity.

Amidst the gaudy numbers that Bonds was compiling, steroid rumors started swirling. Then in 2003, the BALCO scandal erupted and all bets were off. Bonds was implicated heavily. The mountain of leaked evidence connected to this case has provided a record from here to the moon to show that Barry was doping. The resulting case continues, and to this day Bonds has not yet been indicted and has never admitted to using steroids intentionally. However, even people who spent their formative years looking up to him eventually had to come to the conclusion that he cheated. A lot.

So as a Giants fan, what do I think? If I had been one of the people ESPN surveyed, what would I have answered? Do I think heÂ’s an asshole? Yes. Do I think he used steroids? Yes. Am I OK with that? Absolutely not.

However, I also think that he has been treated unfairly by the media. Not necessarily because of his race (though I do think that plays some small factor), but because he has been scapegoated and held up as the face of the steroid scandal when it is absolutely clear from all available evidence that Bonds was not the only player using. Jose Canseco guessed as many as 85% were doing steroids at one time. While I donÂ’t believe that it was anything close to 85%, it certainly wasnÂ’t just #25 on the local San Francisco nine. ThatÂ’s not to say Barry should get a pass, but it does make one wonder as to why so much effort is focused on bringing Bonds down and not the others.

Which leads me to the big question I get all the time: Am I rooting for him to break the record? The answer is complex. On the one hand, I’m extremely hurt and disappointed that the pure, unadulterated joy I got from watching him play and win has been tarnished. On the other, he’s still a Giant. When he hits home runs, the Giants tend to win. When he doesn’t, they tend to suck. So from a purely selfish perspective, I want him to hit as many as possible so we can win as much as possible. I hope that since the league instituted testing procedures two years ago that the game has been “cleaned up”, but of course I don’t know. Like everyone else, I have my suspicions, but I also have that hope.

Bottom line is that I donÂ’t care one way or another. If he breaks it, fine. If he goes down hurt tomorrow and never plays another game, fine. IÂ’ll resign myself to rooting for a rebuilding team for a few years and go from there. But most of all, I just want this story to be over with. IÂ’m tired of the stories. IÂ’m tired of the Barry-Bashing. IÂ’m tired of feeling the need to defend my team. While all of the spotlights and victories and home run excitement was fun while it lasted, after 4 years of constant controversy, IÂ’m weary of it.

Weary enough that at this point, the idea of rooting for “just another ballclub” sounds just fine to me.

it's not about him being black, it's that he is using drugs.

I don't dislike Barry Bonds because he's black. I dislike Barry Bonds because he is a complainer. He has an excuse for everything. He blames the media for the way he is portrayed poorly...when it's really due to the fact that he's an asshole.

Steroids or not...Bonds is one of the best players in the history of the game. If he had never taken a single performance enhancing drug...he would still have been one of the all-time greats...even with his piss-poor attitude & people skills. People still think Ty Cobb was one hell of a ballplayer...and he never won any popularity contests.

The thing with Barry is...it's never Barry's fault. There's ALWAYS an excuse...and it's never a good one.

Isn't Hank Aaron black?

Bonds haters are so tired. I'm glad he's going to break the record.

the dude is an A-Hole! i dont care if he's black... or if he used drugs.... the dude is an A-hole!

the guy really is king douche bag of the universe, but like Cash said he is one of the best players in the history of baseball. thats how im going to remember him. i hope he beats it soon so everyone can stop getting their panties in a bunch over him.
though id still like to knock him in the teeth for denying my request for an autograph back when i was 10....what a prick.

I feel exactly the same way about Curt Schilling.

my opinion here really isn't relevant since i could not care less (and probably would not even notice) if baseball vanished from the earth entirely tomorrow. wait, i take that back. the traffic on sunset by elysian park would be much better and i would probably notice that.

Hey...Schilling doesn't get a Christmas card from me, either.

I don't really care if professional athletes use steroids. I go to watch a sporting event because it's entertaining, not because I think anyone involved is an upstanding person or has great personal integrity or anything like that.

I'm also sick of hearing about the integrity of the game. It's not as though "professional athlete" is on the top 10 most noble profession list.

Using steroids is probably not the best of decisions if they're concerned about their long term health, but if they want to potentially trade half their life for a big pay check and short term glory, more power to them.

I'm so glad I don't give a shit about sports anymore...

I know. I was just saying that that statement perfectly encapsulates my opinion of Schilling. So I can understand why you dislike Bonds.

I'm indifferent anymore. I dislike Barry Bonds, more for being an asshole than being a cheater (certainly that saddens me). It is a shame that this is the biggest record in sports, and it doesn't quite mean as much anymore (of course, in seven or eight years it won't matter, because barring a Griffey-esque body breakdown, Alex Rodriguez will blow right by Barry). But I've accepted that it will happen and that there's no point in being upset about it. In a way, I'll probably question every amazing accomplishment from now on. But that's not entirely Barry's fault.

I do think, ultimately, he's getting a raw deal. Not because he didn't cheat and not because he's not a jerk. He's (most likely--well, unquestionably the latter) both of those things. But he is not the only cheater by any means. Somebody, and a cursory Google search didn't net who, said Barry is the Jesus Christ of baseball, dying for all its sins. And that is true, and unfair. I know he's the one chasing history, and for that he faces the most scrutiny, but he cannot be vilified alone. Hell, Roger Clemens has been named more than once as a user, and yet the scrutiny level for him is not nearly as high. In fact, he just signed a $28 million contract to come be the savior of the Yankees pitching staff (while also being as aloof and assholean as Barry). He's possibly the best pitcher in the history of right arms, so why isn't he being criticized on that level, too (perhaps there's where the race issue comes into play)?

Uhm. Sorry Sub, but that is stretching it. The Red Sox and Yankees are perennial playoff teams. The Giants...well...not so much. Also the east coast market is just significantly larger.

Personally I feel the Giants will loom in the big guy's shadow until he is gone. Which is unfortunate for a team that will feature one of the best, if not the best, starting rotations in the national league in a very short time.

To Mamet: Your points on Roger are solid, however Barry has just done so much more bullshit than Clemens. Than anyone in baseball. The whole amphetamine issue with Sweeney really showed Barry's true colors in my book. Rag on whoever you want, but I haven't seen Clemens or Schilling point fingers at any of their team mates for their own person drug abuse fuck ups like Barry has. He's a jerk. He is a cheater. He is a rat. He is everything everyone should dislike in a human being.

I don't care about baseball. He will most likely break the record.

Still, it sure is annoying when a self-absorbed douchebag manages to achieve something noteworthy only to use it as an entitlement to be an even more self-absorbed douchebag.

Not as good as the Brewers. -beams with pride-

If he doesn't break it I could care less, if he does then good for him. All I care about is the A's getting their act together and hoping they don't blow it at the end of the season.




Yeah I know they always blow it.

"San Francisco Giants slug". The always inadvertantly ad the "ger" to the end and get it wrong.

Baseball is dead to me...

And Bonds is nothing but a human asterisk. Just like McGwire...

Talk about a bunch of nonsense. Barry Bonds is a complete creation of steroids. He was a slender slap hitter with almost no power before he started juicing and nobody with any regard for the history of the game wants to see him break Aaron's record. The fact that he is an unmitigated asshole is merely the cherry on top of his shit sundae.

Riiiiiight. When MCGuire broke the single season record he was so roided out the guy was fucking purple. Not a peep. (White guy)

That's a point more and more ignored since this poll got released, and I'm sick of not hearing it. I'm fairly certain there was a study when Hank Aaron was chasing the record that said 75ish% of fans wanted him to break the record. You can't tell me that 75% of the surveyed people were black.

Bonds is an exceptional baseball player with a ridiculously over-sized head. Physically and egotistically. He is bad for baseball in that he's breaking the ultimate number (well, breakable ultimate number, since Cy's win total is probably the ultimate-ultimate number) with a cloud of suspicion darker than the Pete Rose scandal. It will be a news story until he breaks it, which is obviously going to happen. It will be a story for the remainder of the season afterwards. And it probably won't be mentioned as a lead in on any story until he retires, and then not again until A. Rod gets around to breaking whatever number Bonds leaves with.

Edit: 77%

Bonds is the biggest cry baby chump. He has a reputation for it around the league. He has an agenda and that is to have his name be synonymous with Home-Run king. How much more evidence do we need to see that he's accomplished this on an uneven playing level??

He has violated the league's substance abuse policy whether he knew what he was taking or not.

He does not deserve the full credit for what he has done.

He's accumulated stats that men accomplished decades ago in FAR worse physical condition. If you want steroids to be ok in MLB, then lets get that discussion going with boardmembers now, but just because its been done secretly for years, doesn't mean it's ok.

Bonds is bullshit. Hank Aaron earned those numbers with truth and respect for the game.

While I'm not willing to rule out that race plays no part in any of this, the '98 homerun chase happened before widespread steroid allegations. In the past few years McGwire's legacy (and Sosa's, as well) has been severely damaged (possibly irreparably), and it will be quite difficult for him to gain admission to the HoF, at least in the foreseeable future.

what's more surprising to me than any of the poll results above is the fact that people are still talking about the home run record as though it actually means something. unless reliable and verifiable performance enhancement drug testing can be done from the first day of a player's mlb career until he hits number 756, it's all moot. and i theorize that what garners bonds so much of the negative fallout from the mlb steroid story, even more than his selfish, bitchy victimy attitude, is the squandering of his greatness. mutts like mcguire and giambi don't conjure what might have been heartbreak like a guy who had the goods to be an all time great.