Barry

From time to time in this blog, when I'm bored and there's nothingmuch to write about, I will post my thoughts on some Giants, past or present.
For the first one, it will be none other than Barry Bonds.
For the last 14 years, I have been lucky enough to see this guy play.  He's been the best player in baseball the entire time.  And after a two year hiatus due to his leg injury, he has resumed that role once again in 2007 at the age of 42.
As for the steroid thing, it's a load of ****.  It may be likely that he used steroids, but the fact of the matter is, most players used it at the time, it wasn't against MLB rules, and he is just as good without them.
He was the best player in baseball throughout the 90's, while he was clean as a whistle.  He was clean as a whistle in 2004 when he had the greatest offensive season in baseball history.  And he's clean as a whistle now, when he has resumed his dominance.

Most baseball fans can’t stand Barry Bonds the person, that’s fine. The real baseball fans don’t let that get in the way in their view of Barry Bonds the player. If you can’t respect his accomplishments as a player, then it’s your loss.

In the history of the game, there has never been a better combination of offense, defense, and baserunning than Bonds. In terms of power, he was one of, if not the best ever (740 career homers and counting). In terms of patience and eye for the ball, he was one of, if not the best ever (2437 career walks). In terms of striking fear into pitchers, nobody came close (607 career intentional walks). But it wasn’t just offensively. Defensively, he was the best ever at leftfield (8 gold gloves). It’s even a myth that he had a bad arm, brought on by one bad throw 13 years ago. In nine seasons, he’s reached double digits in assists, and has 158 career assists. This is a man with seven career MVPs, and was named Player of the Decade before having the four greatest offensive seasons any player has ever had.  His 40/40 season was the most impressive of the three guys to do it, because Alex Rodriguez, Jose Canseco, and Alfonso Soriano didn’t win gold gloves the years they went 40/40 (not to mention he got caught stealing the fewest amount of times in those years as well).

So what, he’s not the most likeable guy? What does his demeanor off the field have to do with what he does on the field? Yes, he can be more friendly, but he’s a lot better compared to other athletes. I found a good article that sums it up perfectly here.   All those things are worse than just being an unfriendly guy.

As for the steroid issue, there's a few things you have to consider:

1.  Cheating is defined by violating the rules to obtain an advantage.  At the time he alledgedly used it, it wasn’t against MLB rules. By definition, if it’s not against the rules, it’s not cheating.

2. Do steroids really help? Nobody disputes that he was clean throughout the 90’s. And who, exactly, was the best player in baseball throughout the decade, and was named Player of the Decade? Oh, that’s right. Bonds. And steroids really helped Alex Sanchez…Marvin Benard…Jeremy Giambi…Armando Rios…Ozzie Canseco…eh I could go on forever, but you get the gist.

And explain his 2004 season?  Explain his current tear. 

3. If you think he was the only player to have done it, that the majority of players didn't do it, you are simply naive. 

This whole steroid thing is nothing more than a vendetta by the media.  They've been trying to take him down for years, and found an excuse to try to discredit his legacy.  Because a guy has been simply unpleasant to them, they've been trying to destroy his life, career, and legacy.  The sad thing is, many fans (who buy into everything the media says as an excuse to hate on someone that's far superior to anyone to have played on their team), Bud Selig (who's grasping at straws with the Mitchell investigation to find some sort of excuse to do something), and even the feds have joined in.

The part I'm loving is, that they've pretty much failed.  No matter what the media has done, they haven't been able, nor will ever be able to, turn the one fanbase that Bonds actually cares about what they think, here in San Francisco.  All the **** will not be forcing him into an early retirement before he can break the record.  All this other stuff, from the BALCO investigations and the grandy jury proceedings that followed to the Mitchell investigation, has become nothing more than a lost cause.  Barry will break the record, and in six, seven, eight years (depending on when he retires, if he plays like he has been which he will barring injury), when he's eligible for the hall of fame, enough writers will realize that there's no way they can't vote for him and will have to let him in on the first ballot.

It's really remarkable how tough he is to endure all this ****.  Albert Pujols came out last year and basically said that it's a load of **** what Barry has had to go through and that he'd rather retire than deal with that (not coincidentally, the media turned on him and have been much harder on him every since).

And for you people that criticize us Giants fans for continuing to support and defend Bonds, if one of your star players were going through this, you'd be saying the same thing.  When Bonds breaks the record, hopefully it will be in San Francisco so he'll get the respect he deserves from myself and 40,000+ other Giants fans.

Bonds is the greatest player any of us every have or will see.  If you can't sit back and appreciate it, it's simply your loss.