Posted By:
Al CrisafulliI read all Barry Bonds threads on the collecting boards with great interest. I've got to say that I agree with Jay on this.
Here's what it comes down to, as far as I'm concerned. Baseball is truly a unique sport in that the history of the game is SO important, and SO revered. Fans of any other sport have absolultely no problem acknowledging the fact that athletes today are more talented than athletes of yesteryear. Who's the best basketball player ever? Michael Jordan. The best hockey player? Wayne Gretzky. The best golfer? Tiger Woods. Ask that question of virtually any sport, and the answer will be someone who has played in the last 20 years. People have no problem acknowledging that any number of factors have contributed to the modern athlete being more talented and better equipped than the athlete of 50-100 years ago.
But not baseball. For some reason, baseball fans have always had trouble accepting the fact that a modern player - be it Willie Mays, Tom Seaver, Mike Schmidt, Johnny Bench, or Barry Bonds, as we trace the history of the game from the 50s onward - might be the equal of Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb or Christy Mathewson.
In baseball, people just pine for the "good old days" for some reason, and it's been happening for as long as baseball has been around.
The fact is that the more I learn about the history of the game, the more I realize that the game really hasn't changed all that much over the years (admission of people of color and adoption of the DH rule notwithstanding). Players have cheated, gambled, held out for more money, jumped teams, charged the mound, and thrown at each other forever.
Today's player has chemical options that players in the past did not have. I'm convinced, however, that if steroids were available in 1930, players would have taken them. And as far as Bonds is concerned, despite the fact that his steroid use is obvious, he's no bigger or stronger than many of the players he's competing against. And yet his numbers are SO much better - he's SO much more dominant - that it's ridiculous. Very few players have eclipsed their peers to the degree that Bonds has over the last 5-6 years, and very few players were as good as he has been over the course of his career.
When Buck Showalter - an astute manager - intentionally walks Bonds with the bases loaded, you know the guy has some skills.
So, for me, the bottom line is this: he may be a complete jerk, but thankfully I don't have to invite him to dinner - I just have to watch him play ball. And compared with other players of his era, Bonds is the best. Steroids or not, there's nobody even close. He is SO much better than virtually anyone else on the field, that it's almost unfair. And for that reason, I still consider Barry Bonds to be one of the top 3 or 4 players ever to set foot on a baseball diamond.
And I think history will agree with me.
-Al