The High Court

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The Big Gavel-Defending Barry

The Chief Justice has decided to do something wildly unpopular.  I am going to take the side of the wildly unpopular Barry Bonds.  That may make this column wildly unpopular.  You may stop reading right now.  You may have already stopped reading.  But color me like Barry Bonds.  I couldn’t care less.

 

You see, I can no longer sit idly by and continue to allow people with a national media platform to bash Bonds on every single topic as if they were both judge and jury (because, hey, I’m The Chief Justice, right?).  The latest geniuses to add voice to the Down with Barry brigade were ESPN the Magazine writer Tom Friend, and one of the Sklar twins (Jason or Randy…which brother it was escapes me…they are equally clueless) who acts as a host of ESPN Classic’s Cheap Seats.  When Rome is Burning host Jim Rome raised the topic of Bonds’ comments that he would return in 2007 if he had a chance of catching Hank Aaron for the all-time home run record, Friend blasted Bonds as selfish.  Sklar was reasonably innocent, as his guilt was by association, ignorantly piling on as he agreed with Friend’s take.  Friend not only suggested that for Bonds to do such a thing would be selfish, but also stated that for Bonds to return for the record would prove what a selfish player he had always been.  The stance left the normally attack-ready Rome in the unusual position of defending Bonds’ right to return for the record.

 

Now let me ask you to do something for the next few minutes:  Put away  your opinion of Barry Bonds.  It is difficult, I know, but try to feel completely passionless on the subject.  Remove from your mind the cloud of BALCO, as well as your feelings toward him as a person.  Just think of him as a great baseball player on the cusp of a tremendous record.  Now we can examine the facts, both of Bonds’ pursuit, and of Friend’s comments.

 

Let me tell you a few things about this player you think you know; this player you think you hate.  Bonds had already won three of his seven MVP awards (he had also finished second twice and in the top five three other times) prior to his 73 homer season of 2001.  He led the National League in on-base percentage four times and in slugging three times.  He was the best in the league in OPS (on base plus slugging) five times.  He won the first of his two home run crowns in 1993. And again, all of those achievements came before the 2001 season.  Bonds also won eight Gold Gloves between 1990 and 1998.

 

All he has done since is win four consecutive MVP’s, two batting titles, lead the league in OBP, slugging, and OPS for four straight years, and break every walk record known to man.  And by the way, if you thought pitchers and managers have only feared him since 2001, Bonds has led the National League in intentional passes ten times.  He hasn’t finished worse than second in the category since 1990.  Just for good measure, Barry became the only man in Major League history to pass both the 500 steal and 500 home run plateaus.  Did I mention he was only the third man in baseball history to hit 700 big flies (I would mention that since his rookie year Bonds has never fanned more than 93 times in a season, and the fact that last year he struck out only 41 times while walking on 232 occasions…but that would probably be overkill)?

 

So what have we learned?  Well…we have learned that Bonds is one of the most remarkable players of all time.  I don’t care if you don’t like him, I don’t care if he isn’t warm and fuzzy, and I don’t even care about the swirl of pharmaceutical questions that cloud the past few seasons.  When we talk about the greatest baseball players of all time, Bonds is in the conversation with four other men:  Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, and of course, the immortal Babe Ruth.  So why don’t we look at what these great men did down the stretch of their legendary careers?

 

Many people consider Willie Mays to be the greatest player they have ever seen.  I have no quarrel with the sentiment.  The man was great at everything you could ask of a player on the diamond.  Many of his greatest fans, however, were left with a very uncomfortable memory of the end of Mays’ career.  He played the 1972 season with the Giants and the Mets, and then finished his career in ’73 with the Mets.  Reduced to a part time role, Willie hit .250 with 8 homers and 22 RBI in ’72, and then compiled a .211 average with 6 homers and 25 RBI in his final campaign.  The 1973 Mets were somehow able to win the NL pennant despite only 82 games.  Should we look at Mays as selfish for hanging around with a winner while being unable to perform at his high standards?  Should we accuse him of just attempting to pad his individual career numbers?  I think not.  And it is quite obvious given the high regard Mays is held in, both by fans and baseball people alike, that he did nothing to tarnish his legacy by holding on too long at the end.

 

How about the men Bonds is chasing?  The legendary Ruth had a terribly sad finish to his career.  The Babe and the Yankees had a difference of opinion as to whether his career was over.  Unwilling to quit in 1934, Ruth played the1935 season with the National League’s Boston Braves.  The great man still had power, hitting six long balls in 72 at bats, but the Bambino hit only .181 in 28 games before calling it quits.  Was he selfish, too?  No.  He had an undying affection for the game of baseball.  And he loved being Babe Ruth.  It would be no small task to walk away from that.

 

As for Hammerin’ Henry, one of the most consistent players baseball has ever seen, the last two of his 23 Major League seasons were played with the Milwaukee Brewers.  Used primarily as a designated hitter, Aaron was also reduced to part-time status.  Aaron hit a combined 22 home runs in 1975 and 1976.  Struggling mightily, Aaron put together averages of .234 and .229, while driving in only 95 runs.  Was he in it to play for a winner?  Nope.  The ’75 and ’76 Brew Crews were a combined 55 games under .500.  So was the Hammer selfish?  You know, if he doesn’t play those final two seasons at a diminished capacity, Aaron’s home run record stands only at 733, a mere 30 from Bonds tally of 703.  So are you sure he wasn’t selfish?  I don’t think so either.  Hank Aaron is one of the most dignified and professional men that have ever played the game of baseball, and the things he endured on his way to breaking the Bambino’s record are things no man should ever have to deal with.  But such was the racial climate in the country at the time.  I truly believe that the home run record has actually caused people to fail to properly appreciate what a special all around player Hank Aaron was.

 

You may wonder why I saved Williams for last.  Well, it is simple really.  The Splendid Splinter is the man who Bonds most closely resembles.  Not in every way, of course.  Williams didn’t run well, or often, and he was never anything resembling a Gold Glover.  Although sometimes it may have appeared he was playing left field with a glove made of gold.  But despite those differences, these two men, Williams and Bonds, are kindred spirits.  They are like twins statistically, and I am certain that had Williams not lost nearly five years of his career to wartime service, he too would be a member of the 700 home run club (He finished with 521).  Ted Williams, as I mentioned earlier, is the best hitter that ever lived, at least in my opinion.  The man was completely ahead of his time as a student of hitting, and man could the Splinter swing the bat.  He finished with a lifetime .344 average.  Where he and Bonds really become the statistical twins is OBP, slugging, and OPS.  Teddy Ballgame led the AL in OBP twelve times, was tops in slugging nine times, and in OPS 10 times.  And at the end of his career, Williams was able to go out resembling the player he had always been.  Despite stumbling to a .254 average in 1959, he would rebound in 1960 to hit .316 with 29 home runs in only 310 at bats.

 

Oh yes.  There is one more thing these men had in common.  Williams and the media, especially the Boston media, had a very frosty relationship.  Matter of fact, in 1941, when Williams became the last man to hit .400 (.406), he was not awarded the MVP.  That award went to the media’s darling, Joe DiMaggio.  Think it was a coincidence?  In 1947, Ted won the AL Triple Crown.  And Joe D. won the MVP.  Not a coincidence.  Williams’ relationship with fans wasn’t much better, either.  But time tends to change everybody’s perspective, both the player’s and the fans’.  I will never forget the reception Ted received at the 1999 All Star Game at Fenway Park.  The outpouring of support, both from fans and players was as heartwarming as anything you will ever see.  They loved the Splinter, and he loved them right back.  And the moral of the story is…

 

Don’t shut the door on Barry Bonds.  Until, and hopefully unless, it is proven that he knowingly took performance enhancing drugs, you need to remember that he is one of the five best players of all time.  To get to see him on the baseball field is not unlike the treat baseball fans of the 20’s and 30’s received while watching Babe Ruth.  He is as good as it gets.  What kind of person he may or may not be (and none of us have any way of knowing) is irrelevant.  He is a great baseball player.  Period.  And maybe in 40 years everyone will love him, and he will love them right back.

 

As for Tom Friend, he should know better (Sklar might not).  As a journalist, it is his job to have some objectivity.  And I understand that he was speaking on Rome’s show as a guest, not necessarily as a journalist.  But he has a national forum for his opinion in ESPN the Magazine, and he certainly had one while on television.  I have read his work enough to know that Friend has a bad habit of deciding which athletes are worthy of being liked and which ones are worthy of disdain.  He needs to decide whether or not he is an opinionated columnist (like the Chief here) or an objective reporter/journalist.  He also needs to think about what he is saying.

 

Baseball players are always motivated by selfishness.  Would you like to know why?  Because if you don’t perform, you don’t play.  And nobody on the planet has performed like Barry Bonds.  No player ever (not even the Babe) has ever changed the game the way he has.  Look, he hit .362 last year, and courtesy of the 232 walks, Bonds reached based nearly 61 percent of the time.  61 percent!  You shouldn’t be able to reach base that many times in your own backyard.  And he hit 45 home runs.  And carried the Giants to the cusp of the playoffs.  I tell you what, if I can find some more players that are that selfish, I am going to have a pretty good club.

 

Barry Bonds has earned the right to do anything he likes.  If he wants to play until he is 55 and try to hit a thousand home runs, that is his prerogative.  As for Tom Friend (and just about the rest of national baseball writers), you are guilty of riding Barry Bonds just because you can. I don’t care if the guy turned you down for an interview, or if he took a leak on your shoes, or if you don’t like the size of his head.  Until you become as good at your job as Barry Bonds is at his, how about you take Barry’s advice.  Shut up.

 

Court is adjourned.

 

 

This may be the most reviled man in baseball.  Bonds may also be the very best to play the game.  (espn.com)