Since the beginning of baseball, there have been players who have had mind boggling, amazing, record-breaking seasons. Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Ted Williams are some of the best to ever play the game of baseball, and they have all had historic seasons. So have many others.
These are the top 5 hitting seasons of all time.
To the surprise of no one, the recent Barry Bonds perjury trial ended with a result that satisfied neither party and only really succeeded in stirring up another round of PED-related articles.
One of the most common type article to enter the fray is how the Hall of Fame will view such candidates; after all, Bonds (and others guilty/suspected of usage) put up some impressive numbers during his career.
Some writers are calling for the Hall of Fame to establish new guidelines on voting procedures for the next election; others are calling for an outright ban of all PED users.
Both of these ideas strike me as rather unnecessary. I mean, isn’t it the job of the HOF voters to decide who is worthy of induction? Besides, a lot of the arguments that are being used against PED users don’t really hold water—and could set a serious double-standard when it comes to past inductees.
PEDs vs. Gambling
One of the most popular arguments used against PED users is that they should be banned from the Hall because Pete Rose—another great player who suffered a major scandal within the game—is banned from the Hall.
People who make this argument do not seem to understand why exactly Rose (and fellow gambler Shoeless Joe Jackson) are ineligible for the Hall of Fame in the first place.
In truth, the Hall of Fame has no actual policy on gambling itself—both Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker are both enshrined despite their involvement in a famous gambling scandal, and chances are they are not the only HOFers who gambled on baseball in the early part of the 20th century.
The reason Rose (and Jackson) are not in the Hall of Fame, however, is because their gambling resulted in lifetime bans by MLB, and it is the policy of the Hall of Fame to prohibit such players from the ballot.
(Whether or not this should be the case is another argument for another day. But for the record, I believe Rose should be in the Hall of Fame but never allowed to work in MLB in any capacity above youth camp coordinator. And Jackson’s ban really should be up by now, considering he has been dead for nearly 60 years)
Believe it or not, PED users also fall under this provision. According to MLB’s steroid policy, any player who fails a steroid test on three separate occasions is given a lifetime ban from the game. Such players will also be ineligible for the Hall as a result.
Other Forms of Cheating
Another important thing to remember about the Hall of Fame is that it has never had a policy against forbidding cheaters of any type. Numerous players now in the Hall are guilty of illegal bats, illegal pitches, illegal modifications of equipment, stealing signs and numerous other illegal activities within the game.
Names like Cobb, Ford, Drysdale and Perry are among the HOFers who engaged in these activities during their careers.
Now to be fair, PEDs are a different form of cheating altogether (though not necessarily better or worse). However, the Hall has also never had a policy against drugs of any type.
I’ve pointed out before that the PED issue in baseball dates back as far as Pud Galvin in 1889, and the list of HOFers who have partaken in PED usage is extensive. Mantle, Aaron, Mays, Gibson, Perry, McCovey and Ford are but a few of the current HOFers who have admitted to engaging in PEDs during their careers (and so has Rose, by the way).
I know what you are thinking: “Yeah, but these players didn’t use steroids.” Maybe… or maybe not. After all, the Mitchell Report itself states explicitly that the Federal Government first determined that steroid usage was widespread in MLB clubhouses in 1973.
This corresponds quite well with statements by former MLB pitcher (and MLB pitching coach) Tom House, who is most famous for catching Hank Aaron’s 715th home run but has also admitted to steroid usage throughout the 1970s, claiming that every team he played for had at least six or seven pitchers experimenting with the drug.
In other words, it’s extremely naïve to think that there are not already steroid users in the MLB Hall of Fame.
(House, incidentally, believes that steroid usage has gone down since the 1970s as more people have become aware of—and made to fear—the potential side effects of usage).
Legality
The final argument often used (by all sides) to justify past PED usage is that the PEDs were not illegal or as potent at the time (Amphetamines were made illegal in 1970; steroids in 1989).
Well, so what? From a baseball prospective, there is no fundamental difference between using PEDs when they were legal and using them when they were not legal. Motivations for their usage remain identical: become a better player; play longer; improve chances of succeeding; and make more money.
If there’s one difference between the users of today and the users of yesterday, it’s that today’s athletes have a better understanding of how the PEDs work. Specifically, improved conditioning and weight training—a practice that was actually discouraged in MLB circles until the late-1980s—not only makes somebody a better athlete, but also makes the PEDs work more effectively.
In essence, people want to ban today’s PED users because they work harder in the offseason than ever before.
Conclusion
If the MLB Hall of Fame chooses to ban PED users, they will run counter to every established induction procedure/guideline they have ever had. They will also create a huge double standard between generations by allowing PED users from one generation in the Hall while banning those from another.
Worse, it could open up a Pandora’s Box when the drug use of older players is given greater scrutiny, resulting in past greats getting booted.
So the Hall should continue to keep the same criteria they have had for the past half-decade and let the voters decide on the issue for themselves. If they want to consider PED usage, fine; if not, simply continue voting in the best players on the ballot.
Just like they have always done.
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Barry Bonds holds the following major league records:
* Home runs in a single season (73), 2001
* Home runs against different pitchers (449)
* Home runs since turning 40 years old (74)
* Home runs in the year he turned 43 years old (28)
* Consecutive seasons with 30 or more home runs (13), 1992-2004
* Slugging percentage in a single season (.863), 2001
* Slugging percentage in a World Series (1.294), 2002
* Consecutive seasons with .600 slugging percentage or higher (8), 1998-2005
* On-base percentage in a single season (.609), 2004
* Walks in a single season (232), 2004
* Career Walks 2,558
* Intentional walks in a single season (120), 2004
* Consecutive games with a walk (18)
* MVP awards (7—closest competitors trail with 3), 1990, 1992-93, 2001-04
* Consecutive MVP awards (4), 2001-04
* National League Player of the Month selections (13—second place in MLB is Frank Thomas with 8; second place in NL is George Foster, Pete Rose and Dale Murphy)
* Only player to have at least 500 career home runs and at least 500 career stolen bases
* Oldest player (age 38) to win the National League batting title (.370) for the first time, 2002
Barry Bonds shares the following major league records:
* Consecutive plate appearances with a walk (7)
* Consecutive plate appearances reaching base (15)
* Tied with his father, Bobby, for most seasons with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases (5) and are the only father-son members of the 30-30 club
* Home runs in a single postseason (8), 2002
Barry Bonds was the greatest player of all time. It hurts to say, but he was a greater slugger than even Babe Ruth:
Career home runs: Ruth 714, Bonds 762
Season home runs: Ruth 60, Bonds 73
Career slugging: Ruth .690, Bonds .607
Single season slugging: Ruth .847, Bonds .863
Career on base percentage: Ruth .474, Bonds .444
Single season on base percentage: Ruth .545, Bonds .609
Career walks: Ruth 2,062, Bonds 2,558
Single season walks: Ruth 170, Bonds 232
Even those who rank Ruth ahead of Bonds admit it is a close call. Bonds stole more bases, was a great defensive player until later in his career and was such a feared hitter than he once had at least one walk in 18 consecutive games.
Bonds received an unbelievable 120 intentional walks in 2004, a mark that is only 50 fewer than the most walks Ruth ever received in a season.
Many smugly claim they “know” Bonds took steroids, comparing the young Bonds to the one who became the greatest slugger of all time after the age of 35.
Those who denigrate Bonds don’t accept the fact that the government has never proven its allegation that he used steroids.
In the America that used to exist, an individual was innocent until proven guilty. Try telling that to the TSA or the friendly policemen at a traffic checkpoint.
Barry Bonds was convicted on one count of obstruction of justice, which is “an attempt to interfere” with the judicial process. A jury decided he didn’t grovel enough before a grand jury, nor did he confess to any of the many accusations brought by government prosecutors.
He remains innocent though of using any performance-enhancing substances.
It is estimated that the government spent close to $100 million in its persecution of Barry Bonds. Do you want to guess how much the commission investigating the bombing of the World Trade Center spent? Try $14 million.
In most cases, government prosecutors have evidence to support their accusations before they initiate a prosecution. The opposite occurred with Bonds. Federal prosecutors indicted first, then continued their investigation, which turned out to be an exercise in futility.
Bonds’ courageous trainer, Greg Anderson, stood up to the federal government by refusing to testify. He has been jailed a number of times. Without his testimony, the government could not prove Bonds used steroids.
Barry Bonds has been “convicted” of steroid use only in the court of public opinion.
Go to web sites such as Baseball Reference. All of Bonds’ records listed above are in tact. Why hasn’t MLB done something to change the ruling of the court of public opinion?
It has never been shown Bonds used performance-enhancing substances on his way to becoming the greatest slugger and player of all time.
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They’re all living the life every single sports-loving kid across the country hopes to experience one day, but is it worth the price? Kobe Bryant is back in the national spotlight for reasons unrelated to his superhuman abilities on the basketball court. Barry Bonds is portrayed as a baseball villain, despite beating federal prosecutors on all of its most serious charges and walked out of a United States Courthouse flashing the victory sign. Fastballer Roger Clemens is currently visiting his tailor for nice suits as he prepares to walk in and out of a federal courtroom for several weeks later this spring.
They’re three of the world’s biggest sports stars, yet we’re talking about everything but their athletic accomplishments. Did they create the situations currently facing them? Is the media chomping at the bit to chew them up and spit them out? Have these three superstars made poor decisions? Whatever the case, Kobe, Bonds, Clemens and other sports celebrities can’t breathe these days without gossip websites shoving a small camera in their faces. But perhaps some of these troubles can be avoided with better decision making and advisers.
Kobe should have known better. He’s my favorite basketball player, but when he uttered the gay slur, I knew the worst was yet to come. I was watching the game and could clearly read his lips. Although Kobe’s slur wasn’t directed at a gay person, it doesn’t make it any better. It’s still wrong and offensive. I don’t want to hear him say it. I want to see him pulling up for a long three in the playoffs. That’s the Kobe I want.
No. 24 uttered the word out of frustration with a referee. But nevertheless it’s a word that’s very hurtful to the gay community, and he knows that. In fact, he’s been through enough personal issues in his life. I’m sure some women across the country have never forgiven him for the sexual assault charges in Denver a few years back. The charges were dropped, but Bryant’s image took a huge hit, and it took him a while to recover. He was finally back to being the NBA‘s coverboy and now this.
In fact, I was just watching one of Kobe’s NBC public service announcements. He is the face of the NBA. Don’t believe the hype about LeBron being the man. In time, perhaps, but Kobe is still the King. Furthermore, he’s too old to make those kinds of mistakes.
Big time sports legends like Kobe have to understand the camera is always rolling. It never blinks, and there’s always one trained on you unless you’re in the privacy of your home. From the moment he drives out of his estate in Los Angeles, Kobe is being photographed and tracked by the paparazzi and mainstream media awaiting his arrival at the arena.
If you’re Kobe, you can’t afford to do what you did the other night in front of a national TV audience. Someone who loves him should tell him that. Someone who cares about him. Not someone with his hand in Kobe’s pocket waiting for another handout.
Right or wrong, the media jumped on the Kobe gay slur and ran with it. ESPN was running the same video and soundbites for three days, and counting. Did it deserve that kind of coverage? Doesn’t matter. He’s a big star and the sports world is always looking for the big story. Why? Because that’s what they do. Ratings. Viewership. Target audience. Demographics. Revenue. You get the picture.
As for Barry Bonds, he might as well be dressed as Darth Vader, right? Some believe he helped create the negative persona that forms a black cloud around him whenever he leaves the San Francisco Bay area. Who knows if that is true, but one thing is for sure: He ain’t gonna win any popularity contests. He did however win his court case against a group of blood thirsty federal prosecutors, so to speak.
Baseball’s all-time home runs leader was found guilty of one count of obstruction of justice, and likely won’t do any jail time. The government couldn’t nail him on lying about whether he took human growth supplements, and looked quite silly at the end of the day. They’ve been chasing this guy for years. They’ve spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars prosecuting this case, and couldn’t get the verdict. I guess we won’t see any new federal prosecutors being promoted in San Francisco any time soon, right?
Bonds doesn’t care for the media, and that’s putting it lightly. He snarls before the TV cameras. He looks downright miserable most of the time. It all makes Bond look kind of suspicious and shifty. If anyone could use an image makeover, it’s Bonds. How can the all-time home run leader not be a likable and lovable guy?
When I was a kid, the all time home run leader was loved and respected. You’d never hear a bad thing about Hank Aaron. He was very laid back, but everyone liked him. He didn’t have a TV commercial on the air every sixty seconds, but he was a popular figure. Carried himself well. Very respectful and classy. Humble. America likes humble.
I’ll say this about Bonds. Every time something is printed about him, it’s usually negative. We rarely see something in print, on the web, or on television that focuses on something positive about the guy. He doesn’t help matters much with the way he carries himself sometimes, but when I see his face flash on the screen or on a web page, I know he did something wrong—or at least the media tells us that.
It’s gotta be tough growing up as the child of a celebrity. Bobby Bonds was also a superstar when he starred for the San Francisco Giants. He was one of the best players of his generation, or for any generation for that matter. Barry was always at his side. In the dugout. In the outfield. At the news conferences. Maybe that determines how you act around people when you become a grownup. I don’t know. Steroids or not, Bonds has lived his entire life in a fishbowl. From son of a famous major leaguer, to Arizona State, to the Giants and finally to the federal courthouse.
Roger Clemens has been hiding. Cameras haven’t caught a picture of this guy in months. He comes out of his cubby-hole when he wants to profess his innocence, but other than that he’s become invisible. Like Kobe and Bonds, he isn’t helping himself in the eyes of the public. We think of one thing these days when we see Clemens: Human growth.
I’ll say this about The Rocket: He’s fighting till the end and has steadfastly denied using ‘roids. Like the others two, when you see his face or name these days it has nothing to do with a record-setting career. I hope for his sake, the allegations are untrue, because he has spent tons of money defending himself and it isn’t over.
Clemens should be having the time of his life. One of the greatest pitchers of all time according to the record books. Instead, whenever you see him he’s walking away from the cameras and has little to say. There was a time when he was the golden boy. Now the gold is a little tarnished. Has the media been unfair with Clemens? Maybe. Maybe not.
The Rocket doesn’t strike a sympathetic pose when you seen him. He’s defiant and slightly argumentative when asked about steroid use. He certainly doesn’t help his image by running away from the accusations. But does he have a choice? He knows whenever a reporter is present, they’ll ask him about one thing, and one thing only. Perhaps he’s tired of addressing the subject. His handlers however, should learn a thing or two about “spinning.” Controlling the message might help him. But maybe spinning is the least of their worries with a federal trial looming.
Kobe, Bonds, Clemens and all sports celebrities deserve a little privacy. They also deserve the benefit of the doubt sometimes. The only thing we really know about these superstars is what we see on the web and television. That’s where we form our misguided opinions. They deserve a little space and a little freedom. But if a sports stud should find himself entangled in personal and legal problems, unfortunately a camera will always be waiting outside their door.
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Barry Bonds was found guilty of obstruction of justice, one of the four charges levied against him yesterday. Although the jury was unable to reach a decision on any of the perjury charges, logic tells you that he probably did know that he was taking illegal performance enhancing drugs, (PED’s).
The issue was not so much of whether Bonds knew and lied to the Federal Grand Jury, but whether the government could prove it. Although the government spent tens of millions of dollars, their case was weak and based on circumstantial evidence.
The biggest gaffe federal prosecutors made was when their own witness, Dr. Arthur Ting, contradicted earlier testimony by another of their star witnesses, Bonds’ former business manager and friend, Steve Hoskins.
In Law School 101, the first thing you are taught is that you better know the answer before you ask a question of any witness. Ting’s blatant contradiction of Hoskins’ testimony completely undermined the credibility of an already shaky accuser.
I believe that this issue was a major reason Bonds was not convicted on more of the charges. The other key problem the prosecution faced was that Bonds’ former trainer, Greg Anderson, would rather spend time in jail that testify.
His silence undermined the prosecution’s case from the start.
Now that the trial is over, the next question is whether or not Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame.
For the first five years of Bonds’ eligibility, my decision would be a resounding “no.” In addition to harming his own reputation forever, Bonds has also tarnished the game of baseball. This trial became a complete spectacle.
I found myself wondering where the circus tents are?
After that five year stance, I must state that I would in fact vote for Bonds’ induction into the Hall of Fame. Looking at Bonds’ stats and career prior to the steroid years, he was worthy of inclusion into the Hall of Fame, if he retired right then.
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were given all the accolades in 1998, when they were chasing the single season home run record. Bonds knew he was twice the player that these guys were and I believe decided to give himself an edge, like McGwire and Sosa.
Looking at the numbers, it is extremely likely that Bonds’ performance was enhanced in 2001, in his 73 home run season. There is also a reasonable likelihood that Bonds was not clean in 2000 either, when he hit 49 home runs, although I will give him the benefit of the doubt on that one.
However, if we take a look at Bonds’ numbers from 1986 to 2000, he merits Hall of Fame inclusion. Barry Bonds hit 494 home runs during that period and had 1,967 RBI.
In addition to the power numbers, Bonds also had 471 stolen bases over that 15 year time frame.
Over that 15 year span, the awards Bonds won show the true greatness of the ball player. Bonds won the Rookie of the Year in 1986, he also won two MVP’s, eight Gold Gloves, eight Silver Sluggers and was a nine time All-Star.
Those numbers put Bonds into the Hall of Fame if he retired right then.
Unlike Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Jose Canseco or Rafael Palmeiro, Bonds’ career was Hall of Fame worthy before the steroids were a part of his life.
I cannot bring myself to vote for him in the first year of his eligibility because he sullied the game. Nevertheless, Bonds deserves his place in baseball’s Hall of Fame and I would give him my vote after a five year series of no votes.
Looking back, it is my hope that if he had it to do all over again, Barry Bonds would have come clean and admitted his involvement with PED’s and apologized. There would have been no Grand Jury investigation and this entire nasty court case would never have occurred.
Bonds would be long forgiven and we would not be lambasted with the daily saga of this steroid trial. The US government would have also saved tens of millions of dollars which they could have wasted, er spent, on other issues.
Roger Clemens, are you watching? Do you still want to carry on this sham? Ask Bonds, it’s not worth it.
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Barry Bonds is the all-time home run leader in major league baseball with 762. He also holds the record for most home runs in a single season with 73 in the 2001 season. Overall, Bonds ended up with a career .298 batting average, 2,935 hits, 1,996 RBI, 2,558 walks (MLB record), 688 intentional walks (MLB record), and 514 stolen bases. Barry was a 14 time all-star, 8 time gold glove winner, 12 time silver slugger award winner, 7 time NL MVP and 3 time Hank Aaron award winner.
Let that sink in for just a minute, all of these statistics, awards and accolades for one man. Yet, he is still probably most widely remembered for his association with the BALCO scandal ahead of all of these other things.
This week we were reminded, once again, that the greatest player of his generation had to cheat to achieve that status. The government has made him the poster boy for the steroid scandal, prosecuting him for perjury and obstruction of justice, finally convicting him of the latter.
They made sure that while spending $6 million we all knew about the positive steroid test from 2000, the 3 year growth spurt in San Francisco where his shoe size went from a 10 to 13, hat size went from a 7 1/4 to 7 3/8, and shirt size from a 42 to 52. Even more amazingly, his weight went from 185 while with the Pirates to as high as 260 with the Giants. Keep in mind that Bonds was 27 his last season in Pittsburgh, so not a growing teenager by any means.
While Bonds always was one of the most hated men in baseball anywhere outside of San Francisco, these facts all fail to take into account how he mesmerized a nation back in 2001. After Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s chase brought baseball back to the forefront of sports in America, Bonds’ run put it over the top. At that time, there was no one in baseball indicting these guys for how they had grown to cartoon-ish size figures accomplishing things never before seen in the sport. To the contrary, we were being regaled with tales about how lucky we were to be living during such a vibrant time for baseball fans.
Over the last several years, one after another we have had our heroes knocked down. From McGwire to Sosa, Bonds, Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez and most recently—for the second time—Manny Ramirez. We continue to see the sports biggest figures caught in this never-ending scandal. Having a young son, it makes it very hard to want to share the game with him, because who really wants to answer the question about why his favorite player got suspended.
Every time I see a player who looks like he’s gained some muscle or hit a few more home runs than usual, I have to question it, and that takes a lot of the fun and child-like innocence that makes baseball so special out of the game.
I for one think these issues have helped to magnify the impact of some players who have managed to stay unstained to this point, like Ken Griffey Jr. The muddy times ahead for hall of fame votes will hopefully close the final chapter on a headache I’m sure most of us would love to see come to an end.
I don’t have a vote, but if I did, I wouldn’t elect any players who we know have cheated into the hall. Even a player like A-Rod, who theoretically has the chance to redeem himself and will probably eclipse Bonds’ mark, should be viewed with a one strike and you’re out rule. If we ever want that innocence to return to the game, we can’t celebrate those who tried to take it away in its most revered place.
Brian is a Senior Writer for 4thandHome.com where this, and other work, can be found. Additionally, he is co-host of the 4th and Home Radio show on Blog Talk Radio.
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A sport bruised by work stoppages. Millionaires fighting with billionaires. Fans showed their displeasure the best way they knew how. They stopped going to games.
Things picked back up in the late 1990s, with more fans piling into more parks than ever before.
There was some thought that fans came back because of the sudden surge of offense via the most exciting thing in the game, the home run.
Things really picked up in 1998 when Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey Jr. and Greg Vaughn all finished with 50 or more home runs, with McGwire and Sosa both eclipsing the record set by Roger Maris in 1961. Nine other players slugged over 40 homers.
A whole bunch of failed drug tests, grand jury indictments and 13 years later left people connecting the dots between that power surge and the use of performance enhancing drugs. Most notable of course being steroids.
So while saying home runs saved baseball was cliche at the time, there is now a thought that the very thing so many of us are upset about is what saved baseball.
I’m not so sure about that.
In the early 1980s, baseball had two short work stoppages. Eight days in 1980 and two days in 1985. Sandwiched between those was a 50-day dispute in 1981. Still, attendance stayed north of 20,000 per game league-wide, eventually rising to over 25,000 for the National League and nearly 30,000 for the American League.
Just as things were starting to get better, they got uglier.
The 32-day lockout in 1990 was nothing compared to the 232-day strike launched by the players in 1994 that wiped out the World Series for the first time.
After attendance averages had reached as high as nearly 37,000 for the senior circuit in 1993, the fans seemingly had enough.
Then came the aforementioned power surge and fans flowed back through the turnstiles as if they had turned the other cheek or decided to give their national pastime another chance.
Attendance rocketed into the 32,000 range for the AL and north of 38,000 for the NL where McGwire and Sosa were putting on the fireworks show.
With reasonable regression expected after the home run record chases, attendance league wide dropped to an average of around 30,000 per game in 2000. Throughout the next decade, we’d see a spike as high as 32,694 in 2007 with the low being around 28,000 during a small hiccup in 2002.
The league isn’t seeing the attendance it did in the late ’90s, but it’s not seeing the lows of the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s either.
With relative labor peace in baseball compared to the nasty fight with the NFL, and the one expected with the NBA, things have been smooth.
A sport once marred by strikes, lockouts, bickering and fighting has seen nothing but immense growth over the past 16 years thanks to revenue sharing, media and merchandising booms and more.
Did steroids save baseball?
I don’t think so.
Baseball, in all its beauty and glory, saved baseball. Just by showing up.
Alex Carson is a Mariners and MLB writer and blogger. Follow him on Twitter: @AlexCarson
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Mad Magazine should feature Manny Ramirez on their covers. He’s one of the original Boston Red Sox Idiots. And, now we have confirmation he is crazy as a Looney Toon.
Imagine having been banned once for 50 games for using a forbidden substance, and then to use the proverbial putative something again.
Imagine being so stupid that you are caught once more with hormones, steroids or the creeping crud inside you.
The threat of a 100-game suspension and humiliation is a great motivator toward retirement.
The motto of Manny Being Manny rivals only the other imbecile’s mantra: ”What, me worry?”
Don’t worry, Manny. Be happy. Your career is in the garbage dump and your miscue is now beyond rescue. You just flushed 500 home runs down the poop chute.
Some people get ulcers, and others give them. If Manny is ulcerated, it is only along his medulla oblongata.
If using drugs and steroids will fry your brain, Manny may have fricasseed frontal lobes. He is clearly out to lunch.
He’s sniffed too much pine tar resin, raising the count higher than 3 and 2. He makes the other former Red Sox brainiac, Roger Clemens, look like a rocket scientist.
Enablers took him in at the Los Angeles Dodger Disneyworld, and he took them in, though it’s doubtful they realize it. After all, Los Angeles created Manny-wood, a fantasy home where he could live out his delusions for a few more years.
Manny has always belonged in Mudville, where his slime-riddled career can be appreciated.
Now, the reality show we call life may be intruding too much. There will be no return to Boston, giving fans a chance for their much-needed catharsis on Monday.
If you were to ask Manny about Cooperstown, his legacy or fan respect, he would look at you blankly. These are words that he never can define and are outside the drug user lexicon.
Words in his vocabulary are limited to vanity, and the rest of his meager, but benighted diction belongs in a rather thick-skinned dictionary he and Barry Bonds have compiled.
The first word that neither has comprehended may well be “comeuppance.” Guilty parties often get it sooner or later.
After being hit with a proverbial ton of steroid slime-balls, Manny will slide under the bombardment that would assault the ego of a lesser maroon idiot.
The Mighty Manny has struck out, and we can only say good riddance.
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Manny Ramirez has announced his retirement from major league baseball, rather than continue with the league’s drug use program.
The slugger is just the most recent in a litany of elite hitters who have seen their reputations tarnished by the use of performance-enhancing drugs. How great could they have been without?
Manny will go down as one of the greatest pure hitters of his generation, and will never sniff the Hall of Fame because “great” wasn’t enough.
Barry Bonds awaits his fate in a federal courthouse in San Francisco for allegedly lying about knowingly using steroids.
Whatever the outcome of that case, one thing is for certain: Bonds deprived us of more than we know as baseball fans. It’s not just the asterisks that we attach to the records Bonds broke; it’s more than that. It’s what he didn’t allow us to see: a great player who achieved so much through natural ability and dedication to his craft, who then got older and slowed down.
That’s right. We didn’t get to see Barry decline, and that’s not fair to the game of baseball or its fans.
One of the biggest reasons baseball is America’s pastime—the game of our forefathers, and now our game—is because we can identify with those who compete on the diamond. We see ourselves in so many of our heroes on the baseball field, both in their triumphs and defeats. We see men who toil in the minor leagues for years and years before finally getting their shot on the big stage under the bright lights. We see those who have such a beautiful, natural gift for the game, that it’s simply a joy to watch them display that day-in and day-out.
That’s why we see movies like “The Rookie” (where a middle-aged high school baseball coach gets a chance in the big leagues in his 40s) and “The Natural” (where Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, “the greatest there ever was”).
We see tragedy, as when Lou Gehrig caught “a bad break”, being diagnosed with ALS (thereafter named “Lou Gherig’s disease”), forcing him into early retirement and, rapidly, into an early exit from this life. We see triumph, like when hobbled pinch-hitter Kirk Gibson of the Dodgers limped to home plate in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series to face the toughest closer in the game, Dennis Eckersley, and homered to win it for Los Angeles, propelling the underdog Dodgers to a world championship over the heavily-favored Athletics.
These moments remind us of our own challenges, fears, failures, courage, and triumphs. We gain strength by seeing a man hit a round ball with a round bat, while other men chase that ball down. Baseball mimics life, and beautifully at that. That’s why we’re so addicted to it. It gives us something to remind us of who we are and what we can achieve.
One of the most important lessons we learn from baseball is that nothing lasts forever. It’s true in the game, and it’s true in life. Our heroes of the diamond are great ballplayers for 10, maybe even 15 years, but then they start to fade and their skills begin to erode right before our eyes. Willie Mays may have said it best, from the perspective of one of the greatest of all-time: “Growing old is just a helpless hurt.” The 41-year-old Mays said that after he had fallen in the outfield during the 1973 World Series, when he was a member of the New York Mets. It was clear that diminishing skills and an aging body were even catching up with the Say Hey Kid.
Willie Mays is just one of many great players in baseball history that were among the best in the game during their primes, but whose ability faded with the passage of time, helping us see that we should make the most of what we have in life, and more than that, the most of what we have to give. More recently, we’ve seen some of the greatest players of our own generation hang up the spikes after coming to the realization that they just don’t have enough anymore.
Chief among them: Ken Griffey, Jr. Junior Griffey was perhaps the greatest player of the 1990s, and were it not for numerous injuries that plagued him later in his career, he would have very likely passed Hank Aaron on the all-time home run list. Griffey finished with 630 home runs, and was a 12-time all-star and 10-time Gold Glove award winner. But in the last few seasons of his career, he changed physically, visibly gaining weight, as well as on the field, becoming a designated hitter rather than patrolling his usual center field territory with the Seattle Mariners. It was rumored last season, before he retired, that he fell asleep in the clubhouse during a Mariners game.
But Griffey’s limitations were, in a way, refreshing to witness. It was clear that time had caught up with the former superstar, and the myriad injuries that hindered him during his career showed that he is, indeed, human. By 2009, it was clear that Griffey was in decline. In 117 games for the Mariners that season, he hit just .214 with 57 RBI. The Kid retired in 2010 after a storied big league career, leaving a legacy as one of the most beloved stars in baseball history—in Seattle and around the baseball world.
And then there’s Barry Bonds.
From 1986, when Bonds broke into the big leagues, through 1998 (the year before he allegedly began using steroids), he was an eight-time all-star, three-time National League MVP, seven-time Silver Slugger award-winner, and eight-time Gold Glove award winner.
Those are first ballot Hall of Fame numbers.
Then in 1999 things began to change. Bonds body went through extraordinary changes. He bulked up immensely, and his head, hands and feet appeared to have grown as well. Before 1999, the most home runs Bonds had ever hit in a single season was 46 in 1993. In 2000 he hit 49. Then in 2001, he hit 73. In that season, he only had 49 singles. 47% of his hits were homers, and 69% of hits were extra-base hits. These numbers were mind-boggling, especially for a man who was now 37 years old.
How does a ballplayer who never hit more than 46 homers in a season in his 20s hit 73 when he was almost 40? Well, we all know the story.
And it’s a sad one. Baseball is a game for the common man, and it should be played by the common man—not one who has added artificial strength to excel past his peers in the sport.
In a strange way, we want to—no, we need to—see our heroes decline. It shows us truth, and it shows us integrity and grace from those like Willie Mays and Ken Griffey, Jr., who played with what they naturally had. They thrilled us with their natural abilities while in their prime, and we watched in sadness but with great respect and admiration when they struggled through their decline.
Outside of San Francisco, and perhaps even somewhere inside as well, there was no respect or admiration for what Bonds did.
He may have hit a lot of home runs. But he did not give us what we wanted to see.
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