Well, well, look who’s terrorizing Pacific Bell Park again. If it isn’t Barry Bonds, back from a bevy of surgeries to fix his ailing knees. Why return now, though, with his team all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention? Why run the risk of aggravating his injuries for a few meaningless games late in the season?
Could it be for love of the game? Maybe. For love of his team? Not likely. For love of the fans? Probably not. For love of himself? That’s probably why. As of Monday, Bonds sat 9 home runs behind Babe Ruth on the all-time list. With his body rapidly falling apart, Bonds needs to play in every game he possibly can if he wants to continue to climb the home run list.
Bonds’ reasons for coming back, though, are ancillary to the main issue here. No matter how many home runs Bonds hits, he doesn’t really deserve the same place in the baseball pantheon as Ruth, Hank Aaron, or Willie Mays.
Ruth was a legend like no other. He transcended sports in a way only seen in the greatest of the great—men like Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. Ruth hit more home runs in some seasons than entire teams did.
Aaron’s entire career was a struggle. One wouldn’t know by looking at the numbers, but he faced a daily fight with racism and intolerance. As he neared Ruth’s career home run record in the 1973 season, he received death threats and was at the receiving end of invective of unimaginable baseness. Guards escorted him from place to place. Aaron fought back, as he always did, with reticent results—he let his bat do the talking.
Mays, too, battled the specter of racism during his career. He took up the fight in his own way—he revealed himself to be a compassionate man with a bubbling personality that the fans and media soon came to revere. He was pretty close to the perfect ballplayer; he could hit, steal, field, and throw at an intense level.
To think that Bonds deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Ruth, Aaron, and Mays is laughable. To think that Aaron and Mays fought and broke down racial barriers so Bonds could be accepted in today’s game is almost enraging. The hatred faced by these two men was real. Bonds, however, is content to conjure up accusations of racism to justify his own sullen and mercurial behavior.
People who write off Bonds’ behavior as “Barry being Barry” aren’t telling the whole story. Bonds’ numbers are certainly commendable, but his history of selfishness and self-imposed martyrdom preclude him from reaching the same level as the greatest of the great.
Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the individual writer, and do not necessarily represent those of The Polytechnic or the Sports Department.
