Steroids and Barry Bonds: Best hitter or best cheater?
Three members of Pendulum sports collaborate to evaluate the
recent sports controversy and its top icon
Moderator: Nathan Rode / Sports
Editor
Analysts: Mike Vivenzio / Asst.
Sports Editor
Tim Rink / Columnist, Reporter
Barry Bonds has given us a lot to argue about since 2001.
Many say he is among the best players of all time while
others disagree based on his steroid accusations. Mike
Vivenzio and Tim Rink will share their point of view.
NR: True or False- Steroids or not, Bonds is one
of the greatest hitters of all time?
TR: Sure, Barry Bonds is one of the better
hitters in recent history. But the best of all time ...
please. He's got some pretty impressive career numbers.
He's hitting .300 flat on his career. He's one of
three players in history with more than 700 home runs and he
has a .443 career on base percentage. But there have been
several players who were significantly better. Ted Williams
was the last player to hit .400 in a season. Williams
finished his career hitting .344 and a .482 OBP. Williams
also hit 521 home runs in his career, and has over 1800 RBI
in his career, only four behind Bonds. Ichiro may not be a
better hitter, but he's certainly more of a threat to
score runs. Tony Gwynn was better at getting the ball in to
play. Bonds is certainly a great hitter, but best ... not
even close.
MV: True, there has never been a hitter in
all of baseball history that was more feared than Barry
Bonds. If you want proof just look at his walk totals. They
are self-explanatory. Pitchers do not want to face Barry
Bonds. Bonds can hit the ball anywhere in the park. If you
need a key single, Bonds will get it, if you need a double,
Bonds will get it. He is the only member of the 400 home run
club and 400 stolen base club and that was accomplished
before any talk of him taking steroids ever arose. He is also
the only member of the 500, 500 club and 95 percent of that
was accomplished before he probably took steroids. True, he
does not have the high average that guys like Ty Cobb or Ted
Williams had when they retired, but if Barry got the at-bats,
I am sure his lifetime totals would be significantly higher
and Williams would not even be close to him in RBI totals.
The fact is, if there is a man on base in scoring position,
Bonds is being walked. No other player has ever earned that
much respect from opposing pitchers and managers.
NR: If Bonds were to be tested right now for
steroids and it came out positive, no discrepancies, he's
guilty, what would it do to him as a person, his career and
to baseball?
TR: If you follow baseball, it is pretty
obvious that Bonds has used steroids. Bonds had never hit 50
home runs in a season before the 2001 season (the year he set
the single season record with 73) and he hasn't hit more
than 46 since. Bonds ballooned recently and simply looking at
him or his numbers gives you a pretty good idea of if
he's been juicing. The testimony that was leaked from his
grand jury hearing confirms this. A San Francisco Chronicle
article claims that Bonds admitted to using steroids, saying
that he didn't know what they were. This is America,
innocent until proven guilty and all that, so I'll give
him the benefit of the doubt on that ... but there's no
question, Bonds has been juicing, a positive test would have
no affect at all.
MV: It would hurt baseball, but everyone
knows that Bonds took steroids just like everyone knows that
Pete Rose bet on baseball.
Would it take away anything that the man has accomplished? I
do not think so. Baseball did this to itself. There was no
policy in baseball regarding steroids, so players did as they
pleased. I feel that Barry took steroids because he felt
slighted. After the '98 season, when Sosa and McGuire
captivated the nation, Bonds felt underappreciated, because
factually, Bonds is a better ball player and better hitter
than the aforementioned Sosa and McGuire. I feel Bonds used
steroids in 1999-2001. However, I do not think that he used
them the year that he broke the record. I feel that, that was
just lingering effects and that he was in the best physical
and mental shape of his life and just in a zone.
NR: If you were commissioner, what would your
policy be for someone guilty of steroid use?
TR: There can be false positive tests so
immediate expulsion from the game doesn't really work.
But if I were commissioner, I would adopt a new policy.
Players would be tested randomly, at least once a season.
Any player who tests positive would be suspended for 41
games, equivalent to 1/4 of the season. Upon their return,
the player will be tested every two weeks, at their own
expense. If a second positive result occurs, the player would
then be suspended for an entire year.
A third positive result would get an immediate ban.
MV: I agree with Rink, immediate expulsion
is too severe. Give them three strikes and they're
out for a year policy. If you come back and get three more
strikes, kiss baseball good-bye.
NR: Is the media to blame for Bonds recent
breakdown or is he just looking to put it on someone else
rather than himself?
TR: I really feel bad as an aspiring member
of the media. I mean, the things we did to Barry Bonds. The
media injected him with steroids, made him alienate himself
from his own teammates, made him spit on a teammate, and made
people hate him. Worst of all, it was rogue members of the
media who broke in to Bonds' house while he was sleeping
and injured his knee, resulting in him missing at least half
of this season. We're sorry, Barry.
MV: The media has hated Barry Bonds since
day one, when he was a cocky rookie for the Pittsburgh
Pirates. We are all in the media and we are all to blame. We
do not allow people to rest, to relax and to have lives that
exist outside of the public eye. We want to make Barry cry,
we want to see it, because it is a great story. We need to
leave the man alone, let him enjoy what is left of his career
with the people he should be enjoying it with: his family. If
he wants to talk, let him talk, if he doesn't, leave him
alone.
NR: Many think the media was too controversial
in covering anything with Bonds but could he have changed
that by being more conservative in his
reactions?
TR: I might have felt sorry for Bonds,
seriously. He gets a bit of a raw deal, but he brought it on
himself. Barry had a big screen TV and two recliners
delivered to the Giant's clubhouse. He makes a lot of
money and he deserves to enjoy it, no big deal. But then
Barry put the TV and recliners by his locker, and positioned
the TV so no one else would be able to see it. The man's
own teammates openly talk bad about him. Due to the fraternal
relationships garnered on most professional teams, you know
the guy must be bad.
MV: Barry said the right things, he
doesn't sugar-coat anything, he says what is on his mind
and I respect him for that.
NR: Any final thoughts?
TR: I don't feel bad for Bonds after he
decided to play the race card, saying the media came down on
him because he is a black man.
Jackie Robinson, Frank Robinson, Bob Gibson and "Cool
Papa" Bell all had complaints about getting a raw deal
because they were black men.
Barry Bonds plays in a league where 60 percent of the
players are African-American. Forgive me if I don't feel
like baseball writers are picking on him because he's
black.
MV: Baseball should not asterisk or take
away anything that Bonds has accomplished, he is one of the
top three hitters of all time and one of the greatest players
to ever play the game of baseball and definitely the greatest
of our generation. Was taking steroids wrong?
Yes. But did it taint the game from an average fans
perspective?
Probably not. The fact of the matter is, steroids might have
saved baseball in the short-term. Fans were captivated by
McGuire and Sosa in '98 and wherever Bonds goes, there is
a sell-out. Did the records mean more to Maris and Aaron and
Mays? Yes. But is baseball back in the forefront of our lives
and back to being America's favorite pastime? Most
definitely.
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