Barry Bonds has Tied Hank Aaron's record 755 career home runs
On Saturday Barry Bonds hit his 755th homerun. Tying Hank Aaron.
I cried.
Somehow I just kind of thought it wouldn't happen. And when I saw it in the replay I realized why I disliked this moment in baseball history so much.
Bonds hates baseball. When he hit that homerun, there wasn't joy on his face, there wasn't even relief. It was just smug, "I'm better than everyone, this is just my job," yuckiness. And there was a mixture of cheers and booing coming from the crowd.
I can't say I blame them.
On the one hand, you have a baseball record that's being epically broken. On the other ... the person breaking that record is more than likely cheating. And I just can't reconcile it.
And it's not that I don't want the record broken. I want our baseball players of today to go up against the players of yesteryear and take their place in history. I do! But Barry Bonds is a melancholy, angry, confrontational meanie.
Compare his behavior to Craig Biggio.
Craig Biggio gets 3,000 hits and he comes back out to the field with his friend Jeff Bagwell. I didn't see Bonds even come out and wave. Craig Biggio has played baseball for 20 years with one team. Bonds played with Pittsburg before he moved out to San Fransisco. Just one move, so not a ton ... but Biggio took pay cuts to allow bigger salaries to go to marquee players. He's played a variety of positions so that he could always play the game. He heads up a children's charity and he and his wife are very active in the Houston community. Can anyone say anything that nice about Bonds?
I don't know, because he's so standoffish with the press.
And I know that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa saved baseball. I know that. I know that they brought fans back to the game after the disasterous 1994 strikes. I know, I remember.
I just can't be happy about Barry Bond's breaking this record, or any record, but mostly this record. Is Barry Bond's a baseball player like Hank Aaron was a baseball player? Does he deserve to share a title with Babe Ruth?
Nope. Not even a little bit.
I cried.
Somehow I just kind of thought it wouldn't happen. And when I saw it in the replay I realized why I disliked this moment in baseball history so much.
Bonds hates baseball. When he hit that homerun, there wasn't joy on his face, there wasn't even relief. It was just smug, "I'm better than everyone, this is just my job," yuckiness. And there was a mixture of cheers and booing coming from the crowd.
I can't say I blame them.
On the one hand, you have a baseball record that's being epically broken. On the other ... the person breaking that record is more than likely cheating. And I just can't reconcile it.
And it's not that I don't want the record broken. I want our baseball players of today to go up against the players of yesteryear and take their place in history. I do! But Barry Bonds is a melancholy, angry, confrontational meanie.
Compare his behavior to Craig Biggio.
Craig Biggio gets 3,000 hits and he comes back out to the field with his friend Jeff Bagwell. I didn't see Bonds even come out and wave. Craig Biggio has played baseball for 20 years with one team. Bonds played with Pittsburg before he moved out to San Fransisco. Just one move, so not a ton ... but Biggio took pay cuts to allow bigger salaries to go to marquee players. He's played a variety of positions so that he could always play the game. He heads up a children's charity and he and his wife are very active in the Houston community. Can anyone say anything that nice about Bonds?
I don't know, because he's so standoffish with the press.
And I know that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa saved baseball. I know that. I know that they brought fans back to the game after the disasterous 1994 strikes. I know, I remember.
I just can't be happy about Barry Bond's breaking this record, or any record, but mostly this record. Is Barry Bond's a baseball player like Hank Aaron was a baseball player? Does he deserve to share a title with Babe Ruth?
Nope. Not even a little bit.
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