Barry Bonds Guilty: The Home Run King Knocked Off Throne?

Article first published as Barry Bonds Guilty: The Home Run King Knocked Off Throne? on Blogcritics.

The verdict is in at Barry Bonds's perjury trial in San Francisco, California: guilty! Bonds has been found guilty of obstruction of justice, which means (if the verdict stands) that Bonds is now a convicted felon. The jury was hung on three other counts, and in all likelihood Bonds will not serve any prison time, but the damage is already done to his reputation and to his legacy.


Since the verdict was announced I have heard all sorts of wild things on TV and on talk radio here in New York, basically along the lines of the "former home run king" and that Bonds has been humiliated in court. As far as I know, Barry Bonds still retains his Home Run Crown, having hit 762 in his career, surpassing Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and everyone else. Perhaps people do not like this, but the man still has his records and that is a fact.

For a long time people have been talking about asterisks in baseball. They talked about it when Roger Maris passed Babe Ruth's single season home run mark (when Maris had beer as his "substance abuse" and that was legal). Anytime a cherished record is threatened, we hear all the naysayers talking about asterisks, but the truth is the numbers are what they are.

I have never seen a study that proves that steroid use makes you a better hitter, pitcher, or player for that matter. If Bonds didn't have the natural talent, he would be up there with huge biceps taking hacks and missing the ball. His natural talent allowed for him to be a fine hitter; perhaps the steroids made him hit the ball farther, but wouldn't a home run still be a home run whether it just clears the fence or lands in San Francisco Bay?

Either way Barry Bonds is now ruined. He is a convicted felon, and that probably destroys his chances of getting into the Hall of Fame. Guys like Bonds and Pete Rose and Mark McGwire may have done wrong things, but their statistics do not lie: their accomplishments will stand - with or without asterisks - and it is up to future generations to make the call.

Barry Bonds looked more than sad as he left that courtroom yesterday. He looked not like he has been portrayed in the media and in living rooms and bars across this land: he didn't seem pompous but rather as a man defeated. I am sure the obstruction of justice verdict will be challenged by Bonds's lawyers, but it does not matter anymore. In the court of public opinion, Bonds has lost more than all the statistics in the world: he has lost his legacy.

The prosecution did more than win in that courtroom; they took away the man's heart. Bonds is destroyed now, and maybe he only has himself to blame, but no matter what there is a stain that is not just on Bonds but on everyone who looked the other way for too long. If Bonds is guilty, so is baseball and every fan who cheered as he rounded the bases.

Today, we do not say "the king is dead; long live the king," because in truth the kingdom is no more. That is what this verdict does, and it is a sad day for all fans of the game of baseball.

Photo Credit: AP

Barry Bonds Trial: You Can't Handle the Truth!

Article first published as Barry Bonds Trial: You Can't Handle the Truth! on Blogcritics.


I love that line delivered by Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. It's one of those iconic kinds of cinematic dialogue. We can argue about other ones that are better: "Here's Johnny!" uttered by Nicholson (again) in The Shining. "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse," spoken by Marlon Brando in The Godfather, and perhaps the most often imitated line of all: Robert DeNiro's infamous "You tawkin' to me?" from Taxi Driver. Still, since this article is about the trial of Barry Bonds, Nicholson's "You can't handle the truth" seems to apply best to the situation.
The sad part is that this trial is not about Barry Bonds. Yes, you read that correctly. This trial is more about Major League Baseball, specifically how baseball (meaning owners and league officials) has turned a blind eye to the problem of PED (performance enhancing drugs) for years. This is the "truth" that is going to be hard for many to handle. The even more difficult truth is that fans were in on the whole thing and are just as culpable - maybe even more so - than the suits and the players who took the drugs.

You can't tell me that when we saw Mark McGwire hitting all those home runs, his arms bulging bigger than Popeye's after a can of spinach, that we didn't suspect something was amiss. Yeah, sure, he hit the weight room everyday. Of course, he ate an all protein diet and drank body builder shakes. Yes, of course, and if you believe that I have a section of grass in Central Park with your name on it.

We were all complicit in this mess. Remember the McGwire and Sammy Sosa home run race? It seems like ages ago, but I recall it vividly. I remember that teachers put up posters of these guys in their classrooms. They were supposed to be involved in the all-American game, two heroes slugging it out to reach the top.

Who couldn't love that? Baseball certainly loved it - loved the packed stadiums, the resurgence of interest in a sport that had waned since the baseball strike of 1994-1995 that left a bitter taste in everyone's mouths.
Sure, we were all in on it and we loved every minute of it. Oh, the drama of it all! Besides, what do baseball fans love more than power? The home run is all about myth and about the shock and awe of the crowd. I remember seeing Tommy Agee of the Mets hit a monster at old Shea. I was just a kid, but I never forgot that one. It is the stuff of legend. The problem with home runs in the Steroid Era (the time after the baseball strike) is that we must question their validity. How many guys who hit 40+ homers did it the old fashioned way?

We can argue that substance abuse (or use of substances) has always dominated the game. Babe Ruth drank gallons of beer (and anything else in liquid form); many others were right up there with him. We have heard stories of pitchers throwing no-hitters while they were on acid or smoking pot, and tobacco in all its forms has always haunted MLB. Many of the members of the Hall of Fame were no doubt addicted to alcohol, tobacco, and who knows what else.

So the inconvenient truth here - besides the fact that Bonds has yet to be proven guilty of anything - is that if MLB is not on trial, how fair is this whole thing and what is the point? Why single out Bonds (or Roger Clemens later this year)? They have records in the books alongside other guys who may or may not have enhanced themselves too. Another truth is we will never be completely sure whose records are tarnished and whose are not. At this point no one is going to do anything about it either.

The people are the ones who pay to see games, who buy the merchandise, and keep this game (and all sports) successful. It has been more than obvious that fans do not care about the juice that players used; they care more about the effects of that substance. Baseball fans have a love affair with the game, but most especially with the home run. The homer is the Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise of baseball. It's the white knight.
People don't go to see no hitters; they want a home run derby. That's why that homer contest the night before the All Star game is actually bigger than the game that follows it.

By no means am I advocating substance use or abuse. I wish players only used their natural talent and skills on the field, but I also wish all politicians could be trusted. Probably not something to expect in my lifetime or yours. In the meantime, Barry Bonds is on trial for perjury, but if he is guilty so is MLB, the owners, and fans of the game, and that is an inconvenient truth that no one wants to handle.


Photo Credit: AP

To Tell the Truth: The Tale of Roger Clemens

This article first appeared as To Tell the Truth: The Tale of Roger Clemens on Blogcritics.


"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
-John 8:32

We always want to believe people, at least I know that I do. When someone tells me something, I like to think that person is being honest. We hope that this will carry over to our children because kids tend to lie, sometimes often, and if they learn the truth is better than lying early on, perhaps they will not succumb to this childhood malady consistently and then fall deeper into the truth-less abyss later on.

Who knows the truth about Roger Clemens? I am not saying this on a superficial level. We fans of baseball only know that. We certainly don't know Roger, just as we don't know Alex Rodriguez, David Wright, Mark Sanchez, Eli Manning, and all the other sports figures out there. We think we know them, but we only know what is presented to us: the persona that has been honed as the marketable entity that comes across on the field and in interviews.

I'd like to think that the person who knows Roger best is Roger. Perhaps his wife and children would fit in there, then his friends, his teammates, and so on, but the only person who truly knows Roger is Roger. It is like that for all of us. We live our lives, though surrounded by people, ostensibly alone. Within our own minds and in our own hearts, we know the truth of truths. No one else knows everything we know. No one.

If you are like me, I want to believe in the essential goodness of each human being. I want to believe that everyone has a good heart, but as reality slaps us in the face again and again, we understand that is not the case. People who strap bombs onto their bodies and walk into crowded places are not good. People who harm innocent children have no goodness in themselves. We realize that there are many fine people, but that bad ones exist and, even if in their hearts they see themselves as heroes, we know that is because something has warped their ability to discern reality.

Roger Clemens says he looks forward to telling the truth. His former trainer Brian McNamee says that he only told the truth. Andy Pettite told his version of the truth, and he will likely be the key witness in this whole thing. Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Jose Canseco, and many more told their truths as well. It becomes a he said; he said: my version of the truth verses your version of the truth. Who can prove what? How far will it go into a person's inner sanctum? What consequences are there if somehow or other the facts are presented that your version of the truth is false?

In this case, if Roger Clemens lied, he did so under oath. Again, in my naive world, I like to think that if you raise your right hand and place your left hand on anything - the Bible, a stack of baseball cards, or even The Wall Street Journal - that you have now committed yourself to truth telling. A lawyer friend of mine joked that lying under oath happens all the time. Whew! There goes my faith in the system, but then again it becomes the court's duty to decipher truth from lies. My friend says good lawyers can pick away at the veneer of lies and get to the truth. Hmmm.

Whatever happens to Roger Clemens is going to happen. I have heard reports claiming that he could get anything from thirty years, to thirty days, to a suspended sentence. I can tell you this, and I'm saying this as a Met fan, I don't see any good coming from Roger Clemens staying even one minute in jail. What will that prove about the system and about lying? What will that teach the kids who look up to sports figures? Nothing, if Clemens goes on and still claims he told the truth, was wrongly accused and incarcerated, and then comes out and writes a book about the whole thing and makes even more money, he stands to be more of a folk hero than anything else.

I think what has to happen is a concerted effort toward truthfulness. If Roger can tell the truth, kids might think, maybe I should too. Yeah, I did take that pack of gum from the store. Oh, I did lie about not having a test tomorrow. I did break that lamp, Dad. Sorry. Like that's ever going to happen, right?

The problem is that lying is all around us. People lie and famous people make a career out of it. In the world that is professional sports and in the everyday world the rest of us know, people lie and that is never going to stop. Sadly, something like this only reinforces the convictions of those who lie to push the truth even deeper into that despicable me. It becomes a "No one will ever know what I know!" kind of thing.

None of us will ever know Roger's truth; the question is does Roger know the truth, or is it so far down and covered with camouflage stories that even he doesn't know anymore?

Jesus said, "The truth will set you free." Maybe Roger should try it and see how it feels. Hey, maybe we all should.

A-Rod Hits 600: Put It in the Books with an Asterisk

Article first published as A-Rod Hits 600: Put It in the Books with an Asterisk on Blogcritics.

"Damaged goods." That is what my friend and Yankee fan Frank (he prefers for me not to use his last name) said when I asked him what he thought about Alex Rodriguez's 600th home run against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium yesterday. I was glad that Frank qualified it this way. When pressed about the number 600, he said, "Put it in the books with an asterisk."

Rodriguez hit a ball to straight away center field, ending his pursuit with of number 600 against Toronto's Shaun Marcum. As A-Rod rounded the bases, getting cheered all the way, it was as if the fans and he believed that this moment was special. Later on he confessed to being glad it was all over, but for his team and their fans it is never over with A-Rod. Now he and they can set their sights on number 700, right?

Okay, I am a New York Mets fan, but I am also a fan of baseball. I had to check with Frank (with whom I have had lots of heated discussions in the past about our two teams) because he bleeds pinstripes as much as I bleed Mets orange and blue. I can appreciate great Yankees players like Derek Jeter, Thurman Munson, and Mickey Mantle for what they have meant to baseball. But the question invariably with A-Rod is what has he done to baseball?

I know there are those who don't care about steroids. They didn't care when Mark McGwire walked around like the Incredible Hulk and hit all those homeruns. Chalk that up for Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds too. They only cared about all the dingers and how it was good for baseball. Good for baseball? Saying these tainted players were or are good for baseball is like saying the Gulf oil spill was good for tourism. Give me a break.

The great sports columnist Mike Lupica, writing in today's issue of the New York Daily News, says that Bobby Bonds put a message to A-Rod on his website: "Welcome to the club." As Lupica notes, "Yeah. They're in the same club." As always Lupica hits the salient nail on the head: A-Rod is part of the Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa club, and not the Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Babe Ruth club. Pure and simple: A-Rod's accomplishment has the whiff of something foul to it.

Make no mistake, A-Rod is a great player. He has enormous natural talent, but the problem is that he sought to enhance that talent in ways that are not in keeping with the fundamental, natural beauty of the game. He is a bad influence on other players who see his success and think, "Why not me too?" Furthermore, he is a terrible role model for kids who aspire to be baseball players, who may think they need to do something even at a young age to enhance their natural abilities in order to perform better, to get noticed, and maybe make it to the big show.

So in the Bronx in New York City yesterday, A-Rod hit is 600th career home run. I kept thinking, "Thank God he is not a New York Met." I have always thought that was, as the legendary Mets broadcaster Ralph Kiner used to say, "One of the best deals never made." I know a lot of Mets fans wanted A-Rod back then, but we can breathe easier because all his talent and all his problems are on the other side of town. Let Yankees fans try to sort out how they feel about his legacy and his place in Yankee history; we can be honest with ourselves that it's better this way.

What about A-Rod's legacy? As my friend Frank says, "Damaged goods." So let baseball put A-Rod and his 600 in the books with a big fat asterisk. Bonds said that A-Rod is part of the club now. I guess it depends on how you look at it, but I keep thinking about that great Groucho Marx line: "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Damaged goods, indeed!