Where is Barry Bonds?
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by Niteowl049
Since his indictment two weeks ago Barry "Balco" Bonds has not said a word about his indictment as far as I know. His attorneys may have told him to not speak to the media so he won't jeopardize his case. Bonds has denied for the last few years that he ever took steroids and he bristled when questioned about his steroid use by the media.
Not long before the indictment he had stated he wouldn't enter the Hall of Fame if the home run ball he hit when he passed Hank Aaron to become the career leader ball had an asterisk on it. Since the indictment I am wondering if the Hall of Fame would even want the ball in the hallowed shrine since it represents cheating whether it was legal or not at the time. It was a slap in the face of every player that played with their God given ability for him to pass up such greats as Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth and his own godfather Willie Mays.
Even though Bonds wasn't the only player cheating by using steroids he profited more than any other player by setting home records for a season and for a career. The Roger Maris family was there to see Mark "I don't want to talk about the past" McGwire break the home run record their husband and dad had set in 1961 not knowing the full extent of McGwire's use of steroids. I am sure they have lost a lot of respect for McGwire after his non testimony before the steroids committee in Washington.
Bonds couldn't stand to see McGwire getting so much publicity for his home run hitting exploits in 1998 that three years later after finding better living through chemistry at the Balco laboratory he had passed up the record McGwire had set in 1998 with 70 home runs by hitting 73 in 2001.
In two years time Bonds had gone from hitting 34 home runs to hitting 49 and then he hit 73 to break the record. I think it is safe to say that no player had ever increased their home run production by 39 home runs at an age when most players were going downhill.
Bonds also profited monetarily from his sudden surge of power and last season made $15.8 million. It looks like he will need that money now to finance his legal team if his perjury case goes to trial. Bonds has the money to make O.J. Simpson's dream team look like law school dropouts.
Now that he has been indicted there have not been any Bonds sightings. He knows inside that he cheated and he had hoped he could continue lying and go on playing baseball but two weeks ago the wheels of justice which had been turning very slowly finally caught up with the conceited left fielder who played for the Giants last season.
Four years ago on December 4th of 2003 Bonds testified before the grand jury in San Francisco that he thought he was using flaxseed oil and didn't know it was steroids. By the end of his testimony he had lied to the prosecutors nineteen times.
His arraignment is next week on December 7th the 66th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. With his money Bonds may like O.J. Simpson walk away a free man because money can buy freedom. Hopefully even if he wins the case if it goes to trial he will never step on a major league baseball field because he has done enough damage to baseball as it is.
With the impending release of the Mitchell report and the Bonds trial we will see to what extent the use of steroids has affected the baseball record books. Bonds won four NL MVP awards he may not have won if not for steroids. Ken Caminiti won the MVP in 1996 while on steroids and Sammy Sosa won MVP in 1998 while probably on steroids even if he says he was taking Fred Flintstone vitamins.
In the AL probable steroids user Juan Gonzalez won the MVP award in 1996 and 1998. In 2000 Jason Giambi won the MVP award.
From 1996-2004 eight MVP awards were given to five players who used steroids. It is now time to seriously consider taking these awards away and subtracting from the record books their records while taking steroids.
Whether Bonds walks free or not he more than likely will never see his plaque on the wall of the Hall of Fame. His only hope of being admitted is if they build a special steroids users wing where players like him and other steroids users can be hidden away in a remote place far from the players who actually earned their way into the Hall of Fame.
