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softparade
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in Sports Talk
Mike Lupica -
Barry Bonds hit No. 756 last night, hit it against a former Met named Mike Bacsik, hit it in the one place in this world, San Francisco, where he is cheered more than booed and loved more than hated.
He hit No. 756 over a Bank of America sign in AT&T Park, the official capital of Barry Bonds, where all who cheer him seem to believe he passed Henry Aaron and became the all-time home run king of baseball without the help of enough performance-enhancing drugs to keep a battleship afloat.
Bonds finally passed Aaron at the age of 43, did it looking like some bloated version of the sleek and splendid talent he was when he was young. It does not change who he is or how he got here.
There has never been a sports moment quite like this, never a record broken under circumstances such as these, never a more polarizing star than this in all of sports history. The commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, was under no obligation to cheer Bonds when he tied Aaron last weekend, and you are under no obligation to cheer him now and neither am I.
This is No. 756 but with a bullet, from a ballplayer who hit 292 home runs over the first 10 years of his major-league career and now has hit 464 since.
Bonds finally stops chasing Aaron now, all this time after Aaron stopped chasing Babe Ruth in old Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta in April of 1974. Bigots were after Aaron in those days. The United States government is after Bonds. Why? Because the government clearly thinks Bonds lied in front of a grand jury once when he said he never knowingly used steroids.
A ball hit off the 29-year-old lefthander Bacsik - he goes into history with Bonds the way an old Yankee went in with Aaron the night Aaron hit No.715 - does not change the fact that Bonds' former personal trainer, Greg Anderson, sits in a jail cell because he refuses to answer questions from the feds about the new home-run king of baseball.
Bonds passes Aaron in San Francisco last night at a time when you can go into a bookstore and read about the laundry list of performanceenhancing drugs from the authors of "Game of Shadows," Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams.
Ask yourself a question now that he has the record: If Fainaru-Wada and Williams made it all up, if they have told all these terrible and slanderous lies about Barry Bonds, why hasn't he sued them all the way into that famous McCovey Cove out beyond the ballpark he practically built for the Giants himself in San Francisco?
Ask yourself why his trainer would spend month after month in a jail cell if he has nothing to hide.
If you don't think they made it up in that book, and it sure would be a lot to make up, then you think what Bonds did is all right because a lot of other guys were doing it along with him.
"I ain't public enemy No. 1," Bonds said to me once, a long time ago, just the two of us sitting in the visitors' clubhouse at Shea Stadium for a magazine interview.
Nobody is saying he is public enemy No. 1 now. Or that he is the only one whose body grew along with his home-run totals over the last decade in baseball. He is just the best one. He was the best all-around player in the game, a Hall of Fame combination of speed and power. It wasn't enough for him.
He needed to be bigger, in all ways. He has made his history now. How he is judged by it is another matter altogether.
You don't have to believe he took everything from female fertility drugs to human growth hormones as his body grew the way it did, got him to 73 home runs in a season at the age of 37, on his way to 756 last night. I do.
Bonds was always going to hit a lot of home runs, for a long time, because he is one of the great talents to come along in 50 years in baseball. He was never going to pass Aaron without help. Two-hundred-ninety-two home runs in his first 10 years, 756 now. Go figure.
"I'll tell you something," Bonds said to me that day in Shea, at a time in his career when he had done nothing to indicate he would hit more home runs someday than his godfather, Willie Mays, or Ruth, or Aaron. "At this stage in my life, in my career, I'm more comfortable with myself than I've ever been. I'm a very happy person, except when I'm in a slump. I know the truth about myself."
He knew the truth about himself then. And he knows the truth about himself now. He knows how he got bigger, and stronger, and showed even more bat speed than he had when he was young. Bonds says that steroids don't hit a baseball for you. Maybe he can explain why he looks the way he does now and his numbers look the way they do after the first 10 years he had in baseball.
"The only thing I ever used was chewing gum," Aaron said once to a friend of mine.
The most Aaron ever hit in a season was 47 home runs. He did what he did at 6 feet and 180 pounds. Look at him. Look at Bonds. You cheer Bonds if you want to. Maybe the real reason Aaron wasn't there last night to stand next to Bonds was this: Somebody as big as Aaron should never look small.
Barry Bonds hit No. 756 last night, hit it against a former Met named Mike Bacsik, hit it in the one place in this world, San Francisco, where he is cheered more than booed and loved more than hated.
He hit No. 756 over a Bank of America sign in AT&T Park, the official capital of Barry Bonds, where all who cheer him seem to believe he passed Henry Aaron and became the all-time home run king of baseball without the help of enough performance-enhancing drugs to keep a battleship afloat.
Bonds finally passed Aaron at the age of 43, did it looking like some bloated version of the sleek and splendid talent he was when he was young. It does not change who he is or how he got here.
There has never been a sports moment quite like this, never a record broken under circumstances such as these, never a more polarizing star than this in all of sports history. The commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, was under no obligation to cheer Bonds when he tied Aaron last weekend, and you are under no obligation to cheer him now and neither am I.
This is No. 756 but with a bullet, from a ballplayer who hit 292 home runs over the first 10 years of his major-league career and now has hit 464 since.
Bonds finally stops chasing Aaron now, all this time after Aaron stopped chasing Babe Ruth in old Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta in April of 1974. Bigots were after Aaron in those days. The United States government is after Bonds. Why? Because the government clearly thinks Bonds lied in front of a grand jury once when he said he never knowingly used steroids.
A ball hit off the 29-year-old lefthander Bacsik - he goes into history with Bonds the way an old Yankee went in with Aaron the night Aaron hit No.715 - does not change the fact that Bonds' former personal trainer, Greg Anderson, sits in a jail cell because he refuses to answer questions from the feds about the new home-run king of baseball.
Bonds passes Aaron in San Francisco last night at a time when you can go into a bookstore and read about the laundry list of performanceenhancing drugs from the authors of "Game of Shadows," Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams.
Ask yourself a question now that he has the record: If Fainaru-Wada and Williams made it all up, if they have told all these terrible and slanderous lies about Barry Bonds, why hasn't he sued them all the way into that famous McCovey Cove out beyond the ballpark he practically built for the Giants himself in San Francisco?
Ask yourself why his trainer would spend month after month in a jail cell if he has nothing to hide.
If you don't think they made it up in that book, and it sure would be a lot to make up, then you think what Bonds did is all right because a lot of other guys were doing it along with him.
"I ain't public enemy No. 1," Bonds said to me once, a long time ago, just the two of us sitting in the visitors' clubhouse at Shea Stadium for a magazine interview.
Nobody is saying he is public enemy No. 1 now. Or that he is the only one whose body grew along with his home-run totals over the last decade in baseball. He is just the best one. He was the best all-around player in the game, a Hall of Fame combination of speed and power. It wasn't enough for him.
He needed to be bigger, in all ways. He has made his history now. How he is judged by it is another matter altogether.
You don't have to believe he took everything from female fertility drugs to human growth hormones as his body grew the way it did, got him to 73 home runs in a season at the age of 37, on his way to 756 last night. I do.
Bonds was always going to hit a lot of home runs, for a long time, because he is one of the great talents to come along in 50 years in baseball. He was never going to pass Aaron without help. Two-hundred-ninety-two home runs in his first 10 years, 756 now. Go figure.
"I'll tell you something," Bonds said to me that day in Shea, at a time in his career when he had done nothing to indicate he would hit more home runs someday than his godfather, Willie Mays, or Ruth, or Aaron. "At this stage in my life, in my career, I'm more comfortable with myself than I've ever been. I'm a very happy person, except when I'm in a slump. I know the truth about myself."
He knew the truth about himself then. And he knows the truth about himself now. He knows how he got bigger, and stronger, and showed even more bat speed than he had when he was young. Bonds says that steroids don't hit a baseball for you. Maybe he can explain why he looks the way he does now and his numbers look the way they do after the first 10 years he had in baseball.
"The only thing I ever used was chewing gum," Aaron said once to a friend of mine.
The most Aaron ever hit in a season was 47 home runs. He did what he did at 6 feet and 180 pounds. Look at him. Look at Bonds. You cheer Bonds if you want to. Maybe the real reason Aaron wasn't there last night to stand next to Bonds was this: Somebody as big as Aaron should never look small.
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
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Comments
On a some what related note:
Congratulations!*
Your pal,
Scioto
Lupica should be ashamed of himself for using the greatest record falling in all of sports to try to get himself some press.
<< <i>If this were an east coast player, the media would call Bonds' personality 'quirky' and he be loved everywhere...but since he's a west coast guy, who keeps the ny media at bay, he's deserving of an asterisk.
Lupica should be ashamed of himself for using the greatest record falling in all of sports to try to get himself some press. >>
And the whole time I thought the dislike for Bonds was race related. The Biggie vs. Tupac theory is much more legitimate.
Congrats Barry!! the more the media hates you the more you will stick around and keep smashing homers in there face.
and by the way he isnt going to jail. they would have had him on something by now.
ya cause he never admitted he took them right?
<< <i>If this were an east coast player, the media would call Bonds' personality 'quirky' and he be loved everywhere...but since he's a west coast guy, who keeps the ny media at bay, he's deserving of an asterisk.
Lupica should be ashamed of himself for using the greatest record falling in all of sports to try to get himself some press. >>
Don't count on that, Dopey. Lupica routinely criticizes the Yankees and absolutely detests Steinbrenner.
<< <i>and by the way he isnt going to jail. they would have had him on something by now. >>
It doesn't work that way with Grand Juries. They can take up to two years before handing out an indictment... Took about that long for Vick, we just weren't aware of it.
He's going to get busted for either perjury or tax evasion.
Don't forget, Pete Rose went to jail for taxes. Sure, it was a country club but still, he did time.
Congrats to Bonds...hope he marches on to 800 to get these whiny crybabies to shut their yaps. How ironic is it that he got 755 off a guy who actually got busted for steroid use? There were just as many pitchers on roids as batters, so in essence, Bonds was playing on a level playing field.
Its almost too perfect
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
ifn my memory seves me,he was on the east coast,in pittsburg lol
<< <i>If this were an east coast player, the media would call Bonds' personality 'quirky' and he be loved everywhere...but since he's a west coast guy, who keeps the ny media at bay, he's deserving of an asterisk.
ifn my memory seves me,he was on the east coast,in pittsburg lol >>
Come on that was a lifetime ago, not even close.
Are B Bonds and Adam Jones paying you on the sly or something? You sure seem to have an unhealthy obsession with them.
Oh, and by the way, Lupica doesn't need some record breaking moment to 'get himself some press' he has been and will continue to be one of the better columnists in the media.
If bonds is so innocent, why is there is guy sitting in jail away from his family protecting this guy? How does one explain his numbers getting better at an age where history proves that numbers should be declining? And most importantly, how is it that someone who is obsessed with his body & workouts explain that he didn't know what he was putting into/on his body. Fish oil my a$$. He knew what he was taking, he knows that he's lying and just like Pete Rose, the truth will come out. Obsessive compulsive narcissistic personalities always eventually become exposed and this case is no different - period
<< <i>Axhole,
Are B Bonds and Adam Jones paying you on the sly or something? You sure seem to have an unhealthy obsession with them. >>
Hmm you mean because I started a thread about Jones and am defending Bonds? Oh wait I'm not the only one defending Bonds, does that mean all those people who are defending Bonds are getting paid?
<< <i>Oh, and by the way, Lupica doesn't need some record breaking moment to 'get himself some press' he has been and will continue to be one of the better columnists in the media. >>
Just another wanna be athlete who was never coordinated enough to make any team, so he gets back at those 'jocks' by ripping them through a column. Tacky.
<< <i>If bonds is so innocent, why is there is guy sitting in jail away from his family protecting this guy? How does one explain his numbers getting better at an age where history proves that numbers should be declining? And most importantly, how is it that someone who is obsessed with his body & workouts explain that he didn't know what he was putting into/on his body. Fish oil my a$$. He knew what he was taking, he knows that he's lying and just like Pete Rose, the truth will come out. Obsessive compulsive narcissistic personalities always eventually become exposed and this case is no different - period >>
Hmm I don't think anyone said Bonds was innocent. I surely never said he was innocent, simply said he was the best player of this era, simply said there are countless other players who should be receiving this same level of media scrutiny for using performance enhancers. Please quit trying to spin words to get to the result you want.
E
4000000 displaced Iraqi refugees * 655000 Iraqi deaths *
4047 dead servicemen * 27104 wounded servicemen *
Billions of dollars wasted ....
<< <i>
Just another wanna be athlete who was never coordinated enough to make any team, so he gets back at those 'jocks' by ripping them through a column. Tacky.
>>
what?
Mike Lupica should be your pal as he made a living ripping the Yankees and George Steinbrenner FOR YEARS. Your east coast west coast stuff is MINDLESS.
Go away ...... please?
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240