The Legend of Barry Baseball

So undoubtedly you've seen hundreds of headlines about Barry Bonds' imminent breaking of baseball's home run record. What follows is usually a grumbling rant, centered somewhere on steroids and integrity of the game. The moral high ground is a crowded plateau these days.

But not here. I'm happy Bonds is breaking Henry Aaron's record. And, oddly enough, I think Bonds breaking the home run record represents the same baseball karma that Aaron's accomplishment represented back in 1973.

See, Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's record wasn't about bat-meets-ball, ball go far, repeat 715 times. It wasn't about chicks digging the long ball, and it wasn't about the greatness of Aaron as a power hitter.

It was about race. It was about a black player crashing the most significant landmark in baseball, held by the ultimate white man in the white man's ultimate game. It was about proving that a black player could achieve the highest standing in a sport that was racist to its tightly wound core.

And this is not at all to diminish Aaron as a player. In addition to the long balls, he has the most RBI in history (2297). He hit 624 doubles (10th) and was one of the most durable players ever (third-most games at 3298). He was a career .305 hitter (tied at 142nd with turn-of-the-century Boston Beaneater/American Chick Stahl for you history buffs).

But career excellence aside, when Aaron broke the record on September 29, 1973, it wasn't just about who was in what place. It was a symbolic final death to the image of the black player being less than the white player. And, in the fight against racist stereotyping, symbolism is the biggest weapon in the arsenal.

And this is where we come back to Bonds.

On a personal level, there couldn't be a bigger difference between Aaron and Bonds. Aaron was distinguished, professional, outwardly calm against the storm of controversy unfairly thrust upon him. He was class personified.

On the other hand, Bonds has been a cantankerous prick most of his career. Whereas Aaron faced the "whites only" signs with stoic grace, Bonds lashes out, whining and making himself out the martyr. If reports on his reaction to the 1998 home run race are to be believed (and I have no reason to disbelieve them), he was so jealous of the attention heaped on Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa it drove him to rage.

Henry Aaron, he is not.

So why the comparison between Aaron breaking Ruth's record and Bonds passing Aaron?

Because, just as Aaron breaking Ruth's record was a symbolic victory over the racist institution that was Major League Baseball, Bonds' accomplishments are a symbolic punishment for baseball's two-faced hypocrisy over the use of chemical enhancements.

That story has been told before. In summary, baseball was damaged goods after the 1994 strike cancelled the World Series for the first time since 1904. Billionaires vs. Millionaires. Who gives a crap?

The game returned in 1995, and Cal Ripken, Jr. broke the all-time consecutive games played record. It was a nice story, a national headliner for a day or two. But other things were more important.

Michael Jordan and the Bulls were off on their second three-peat. Mario Lemieux was back from Hodgkin's and paired with Jaromir Jagr for the most explosive scoring tandem in the NHL. Steve Young got the monkey off his back by leading the 49ers to another Super Bowl. There was Oklahoma City and O.J.

Baseball just wasn't itanymore.

But then 1998. Big Mac and Senior Sammy. The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. It was magic. There wasn't a newspaper in the country that didn't cover that story daily for months. Every newscast in every market led with the running tally. When you woke up in the morning after a West Coast late game, that's the first thing you checked. Baseball was back.

And of course we know now the revival was chemically enhanced, built on things we really didn't know about yet, like Andro and, later, HGH. You can argue about proof, about the lack of positive tests that were never given, about innocent until proven guilty. That's all well and grand.

But, deep down, you know. We all know. And as we find out more about what really went on back then, from admissions by 1996 MVP Ken Caminiti and leaks from the BALCO case and admissions from a New York Mets clubhouse attendant, we know now there were more than a few people in the baseball world who knew back then. They knew. And they did nothing.

And so now Bonds, protected for years by the league's unwillingness to be honest with itself or its fans, is on the verge of holding the title as baseball's all-time home run king. And though the league and institutional media will disparage the accomplishment, it is just as much their responsibility for letting baseball's culture get so corrupt in the first place. Baseball is a game of karma, and just as a black man passed Ruth, so will a classless cheat pass Aaron.

And so will the Legend of Barry Baseball be written, the scarlet letter on baseball's collective chest.

Long live the king.

Seth Doria is a freelance writer and blogger in St. Louis. For more, please visit The Left Calf.

Comments and Conversation

May 7, 2007

Woody:

What a lousy article. Why can’t I find any unbiased articles about Barry??

May 7, 2007

Brad Oremland:

Interesting idea, but I don’t think baseball’s indisputable hypocrisy and varied failures on the steroids issue are in the same category as its shameful history of racism. What Bonds is about to do really doesn’t compare to Aaron’s accomplishment in that way.

May 7, 2007

Seth:

I agree. Turning a blind eye to steroids isn’t anywhere near the same as condoning the racism of Aaron’s era. My point is more of baseball getting it’s just due for its actions or inactions. In a way, it’s more about the record-holders relationship to the game than it is about how the individual got to the top.

Woody - if you want unbiased, go read a box score.

May 7, 2007

jerry edmond:

I think your article just typified the bias against Bonds by the media and white people in general. I wonder how you’d feel if these nasty comments were being written about you or someone you love. So far you have not provided any evidence that Bonds has used steroids. I don’t know whether he did or didn’t, but I do know this, Barry Bonds is the best baseball player of all time. White people seem to have a hard time accepting that. The man is 42 years with bad knee and bad elbow, yet het’s till the most feared hitter in the game.

May 7, 2007

Tom Wilson:

The Asterisk Party says “great article Seth!”

We make no attempt to single out Barry Bonds. Barry just happens to be carrying the steroid banner presently. McGwire, Sosa, Bud Selig etc… all of them may be guilty of drinking from the steroid trough. We do indeed protest the steroid era… and the efforts of Bud Selig. Like a good parent… we do not accept the “everybody does it” excuse… the integrity of the game is at stake. We know the asterisk will never be applied but at least we fans will have said to the future fans … we knew what was going on and we did not stand by and ignore it.

Our asterisk is simply an acknowledgment that we the fans were not ignorant to the truth. Future baseball fans will certainly look back on this time… the steroid era… and they will wonder why no one took a stand and called foul. So this year, we stand up for the past, to show the future, that the now matters. And we will make our stand… in the stands… at the ballpark… for all to see. Our little piece of foam does not attempt to change the record book or right a wrong. That would certainly be beyond our ability and would only add to an already convoluted tangle of words and facts. This little foam asterisk simply allows the fans to demonstrate, in a peaceful simple way, that we were not blind. We were not fooled. And we did not stand by and look the other way while the integrity of the game was ground into the dirt.

The Fans

May 9, 2007

xbaseball fan:

I really hope that (Mr. Roid) Barry Bonds breaks every hitting record. I could care less whether he is black or white. This might finally put the last nail in the coffin of this dying sport . It will probably do much better if the game was moved to Mexico.

Hmmm.

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