My Two Cents On Barry Bonds

I can't say that I have anything new to add to the discussion about Barry Bonds and his chase for the homerun title, but I might as well weigh in with my opinions on the topic, seems like everybody else is.

Barry Bonds used steroids. I don't think there is any debating that in the public realm. It is so obvious, any dope can see it (no pun intended). But it hasn't been proven, and really there is no way it can be proven. He most likely has stopped by now and we will never get a positive drug test out of him.

Barry Bonds is perhaps the best player that our generation has seen. Even without the steroids his plate discipline, his bat speed, his power and his defense have been unmatched. He was a little more mortal without the roids, but he was still the best.

Where I see the problem with Barry Bonds is his longevity. Steroids did not make him a better baseball player. It gave him more power, but you still have to be as good as he is to make contact like he does. But it should have ended years ago. The steroids kept him healthy. They made his recovery time from injuries or the everyday aches and pains much quicker and allowed him to keep playing at the same level day in and day out for much of the last five years.

So does Barry Bonds deserve the record? No, he should have lost the touch years ago, steroids helped him keep from losing it. Do I think that they should put an asterisk by his name or anything else? Only if it is proven, without any doubt, in a court of law or something like it, that he did take steroids. I think the doubt in the mind of everybody about his legitimacy is enough of an asterisk.

Baseball is the only sport where we remember things like this across generations. Just look at all the people talking about Babe Ruth and who he was during Bond's chase. The public will not soon forget about everything that Bonds had come to stand for. We will still be debating this when we are all old and gray. And that might be punishment enough for old Barry boy.