756: It Is What It Is

Every night of my life until last night, no matter what else was going on, when I went to bed Hank Aaron was the all-time Home Run King. Last night, Barry Bonds hit #756 and the Internet is filled with bitterness over it, talks of asterisks and such because of alleged steroid use.

Are we going to start asterisking the accomplishments of pre-integration era players? Is Bonds little more than a doped up steroids dude and those steroids account for all the homers?

Let’s be honest. We have no way to know the impact of these drugs on Bonds’ performance. Did it account for 100 or 200 homers in the seasons he allegedly used junk (1998-2002)? I doubt it.

In the end, the record’s not about steroids, the records about an amazing player and incredible endurance that’s beyond what I or anyone else could imagine. At the age of 43, Barry Bonds has a major league leading OPS of 1.064, and he’s going to end the year close to 30 homers at his age. And in the era of steroid testing, “Look mom, no steroids.”

As Bonds circled the bases, for the first time in my many years of watching him, he was excited, alive, and thrilled to be playing the game. Had he been this passionate and enjoyed the game more visibly during his long career, it would have made it easier for fans to root for him and enjoy his accomplishments. In the end, it never seemed Barry really enjoyed any of it until last night, so we viewed him with suspicion. He was our favorite baseball super villain. In the end, we’re all poorer for that: Bonds and the fans.

It should be noted that Hank Aaron (whose video was a class act surprise) does still hold the record for Home Runs by a Right Handed Hitter and he holds that by a solid margin over Willie Mays (755-660).

Linked by Huckleberries Online

Mike K argues:

How about Josh Gibson (Negro Leagues) or Saduharu Oh (Japan)? Both hit more dingers than any of these guys.

The problem with Gibson is that the Negro Leagues didn’t keep reliable records and some of his homers included barnstorming teams. The Japanese league also doesn’t have the same quality of record-keeping. I think they’re great hitters, but that doesn’t take anything from Bonds.