Book adds some clout to the Bonds-steroids issue

Thursday, March 9, 2006

The Barry Bonds saga just got interesting ... to me anyway.

Supposedly there's a tell-all book written recently by a couple of San Francisco reporters who, after a couple years of research and digging, spill the beans on the Bonds-Balco-steroids issue.

Normally a skeptic of the big-time media, and despite having not even read the book yet, I still believe these writers over Bonds.

I believe the accusations that Bonds used steroids (in many different forms) from 1998-2004.

Look at the statistics. Bonds is accused of beginning to take performance-enhancers after the 1998 home-run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

That would make his first statistical year on "steroids" 1999. In 1999, (at the age of 35) Bonds hit 34 home runs in only 355 at bats. That's one home run every 10.4 at bats.

Before 1999, Bonds' average was one home run every 15 at bats. In 2000, the average was one every 9.8 at bats. In 2001, the year he set the record with 73 homers, Bonds hit one every 6.5 at bats. In 2002, the average was 8.8; in 2003, it was 8.7; in 2004, it was 8.3.

Seems a little fishy that as Bonds pushed past 35, when 99.99 percent of all athletes see a sharp decrease in physical ability, Bonds was taking off.

By comparison, Babe Ruth averaged a home run every 11.8 at bats in his career. In his best year (1920) Ruth averaged a home run every 8.5 at bats. He was 25 at the time.

While the statistics alone scream that something isn't right, what seals the deal for me is the way Bonds reacted when asked about the book accusing him of taking performance-enhancing drugs.

His response was "I won't even look at it. For what? There's no need to."

Bonds is going to act like the spoiled athlete he is and expect the fans and Hall of Fame voters to take his word over this mountain of evidence.

You can't debate that Bonds is the definition of the spoiled athlete. His father was a pro ballplayer. His godfather is Willie Mays for crying out loud.

This is the guy that doesn't just have a locker, he has a whole section of the locker room, complete with private recliner and big-screen television.

Any time he is questioned about anything, his reaction is to blame somebody else or pretend the questions don't exist.

This time he's taken the pretend route.

The sad thing is by taking performance-enhancing drugs (it's been suggested that he did so out of jealousy from the attention McGwire and Sosa received) Bonds has ruined a Hall of Fame career. Before 1999, Bonds was a career .290 hitter, with 441 home runs and 1,216 RBIs. He also had three Most Valuable Player awards and eight gold gloves. He could have retired on the spot and possibly been a first-ballot pick for the Hall.

Instead he let jealousy cloud his judgement (surprise, surprise from the president of the spoiled brat club), and it's highly likely Bonds will never get into the Hall of Fame.

Bonds was the most feared hitter in the National League for eight seasons. That was before the 'roid-induced homer binge that began with the 1998 happenings.

Maybe MLB can put Bonds up on the ballot when he retires, with his pre-1999 numbers. The plaque can talk about his "juiced" years and only include those stats as a sidebar. Along those same lines MLB can return the home run record to Roger Maris. And Willie Mays can once again be the third-best home run hitter of all time.

These are things that baseball must eventually deal with. Or maybe they'll take the Bonds approach, and just pretend that nothing is wrong and ignore that the steroid era ever happened.

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