I apologize in advance for this column. It will not be particularly original, and I'm sure this will be one of many, many articles celebrating the glory surrounding Major League Baseball today. But I just can't help myself. So be it if I am one of many identical staccato drumbeats. I am moved like I have never been moved before as a sports fan, and comment on it I must.
Baseball has been America's game for more than a century, but those of us who occupy this particular space and time are very lucky indeed. For the baseball fan, whatever sorrows infiltrate his life, no matter the despair and the horror that may beset him, at least he gets to experience, firsthand, Barry Bonds' remarkable run to the home run record. The nation — the world — chants in unison: go, Barry, go!
Is there a better player, a better dignitary, a better man to accept the torch from Hank Aaron? No one immediately comes to mind. From his humble beginnings in San Mateo, California to his rise to superstardom, Barry has smiled, and the world has smiled with him.
There are so many uplifting messages from the Barry Bonds story, that it's hard to single out one for importance. But if I had to, it would be, "It's never too late to be great."
According to research done by noted historian Bill James, baseball players peak at around 27. When he was 27, Barry was already a star. At 37, however, he proved to the world that it doesn't take a young buck to do extraordinary things. All it takes is drive, dedication, and passion. It is with these tools that Barry redefined what it means to be a baseball player in his late 30s, shattering the single-season home run record and besting his previous-and-since best by 27 homers. Now that's determination!
I think a lot players achieving such an unthinkable feat at such an advanced age would get a big head about it. But not Barry. Humility is his watchword, and while his self-effacing style is enough to melt the most jaundiced and cynical among us, even more praiseworthy is his candor. Sure, he is always unfailingly graceful and polite and ready with a smile, but has he ever turned down an interview? It can't be easy being Barry. Every night, he carries the dreams of millions of young kids the world over on his shoulders, kids who would like nothing more than to be just like him — something, I imagine, their parents would be pretty fine with, too.
And it's with those children in mind that I solemnly pray that Barry breaks the record on a Saturday during the day. No kid, no matter how early his bedtime, should miss this. It's something they will be telling their grandkids about in 60 years. And they will say, "It wasn't the home run record that was so special. It was the man."
Barry, you have inspired us and elevated us for what seems like forever. It goes without saying that the nation hopes you never retire (and who says he doesn't have many more productive years left? Did you doubt him at 37?). When the day finally comes when you do hang it up, please don't take yourself away from us. You've already given us the miracles of a hundred heroes, and to ask for more would be selfish. Still, I must humbly suggest a career in politics would benefit both you and the nation. We are not done loving you, Barry, and will not be for a very long age.
But that's tomorrow, and this is today. Just keep smiling and break that home run record. It's all a battered nation, weary from war, can ask for.
One more thing, Mr. Bonds: thank you.
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