756

I haven't posted about Barry Bonds because I couldn't think of anything original to say. (I know this principle doesn't keep me from posting unoriginal ideas about a handful of other subjects every day. Shut up.) Bonds, at least in the past few years, which have come to dominate our thoughts about a very long career, has come off as a scary-talented, cold, paranoid jerk. He's notoriously hard to root for, and I wasn't rooting for him, but his breaking Hank Aaron's record reached a point of inevitability long before he actually did, so getting worked up about the actual event seemed silly. I also don't care all that much that he was likely juiced for a few years. I've always thought this was baseball's problem, and that the sport and its brilliant leadership is to blame for any unfair play. How hard is it to officially outlaw certain substances and test for them? I agree with Chris DeLuca of the Chicago Sun-Times, who wrote:

Put an actual asterisk next to Bonds' name and you might as well do the same for every World Series won in the last 20 years -- unless someone can prove that every member of those championship teams, including the 2005 White Sox, was 100 percent clean.

The fact is much of Bonds' work from 1999 to 2004 -- during a time many of us believe he was juiced -- can't be touched by an asterisk. Baseball had no policy against steroids during this time. You can't break a rule that wasn't there.

Selig points to the little-known provision that using any illegal drugs is a violation of baseball rules. But none of the players caught with marijuana or cocaine or amphetamines in the history of the game has an asterisk next to his numbers.

Look at Detroit Tigers infielder Neifi Perez, the former Cub who is missing 80 games -- maybe the rest of his career -- because he ingested amphetamines, performance-enhancers that were as common as bubblegum in clubhouses during Aaron's era.

So, now for the original part. Or at least a contrast that I haven't seen elsewhere, though I'm sure it's been made. Click to this video, and about 20 seconds in you can watch Aaron hitting his 715th home run, which surpassed Babe Ruth's previous record of 714. Immediately after contact, he starts running toward first base like it was any other homer, even though it wasn't. I won't even link to Bonds' 756th, but you've probably seen it. If you haven't, it's all over YouTube. The moment after contact is a moment, like almost every other in his recent past, that is drenched in self-regard. That's his legacy as much as 756 is his legacy. I'd say he's earned both.