fadedsteve wrote:
lol who hasnt cheated in the game of baseball. . . . .
Some of the best pitchers used to "juice" the ball to put more movement on it!
Bottom line is MLB had every opportunity to stop steroids. . . .They chose not to because baseball had a resurgence of ratings and fan fare. The league "liked the long ball", so consequently guys were able to continue to "use" and get away with it. Hence the term "steroid era". . . .just like the era where blacks didnt play. . . . Should those "white only league" players stats be wiped because they didnt play against another race of equal talent??
Barry Bonds is the greatest baseball player in the last 30 + years, no question about it. . . .What he has done statistically is unreal! Regardless of the allogations and probable usage, he hasnt tested dirty, nor been convicted in any form. If he was a nice guy, more people would be giving him the benefit of the doubt, but he is a prick! Everybody knows he is a self indulged asshole, so people want to discount his record. Sammy Sosa used steroids, so did Mark Maquire, and no one is saying shit about those guys!!!!
He is the best player of his era REGARDLESS if he ever used steroids. . . .PERIOD! No one even comes close to his talent whatsoever.
GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!! lol, hell I am a Giants fan, and even I know he is an asshole! All I care about is watching my team win its first World Series in San Francisco, and if Barry Bonds gets me closer to that dream, THEN PLAY ON!
you do have some good points that the league itself definately looked the other way in order to boost sales, attendance.... money. However, does that make cheating right? If the people who are supposed to stop the cheating dont, it doesn't justify it, it just degrades the sport as a whole.
If it will help, i agree that sosa and maguire used steroids. lets take a look at sammy. when he was on the sox, for example... tiny guy. less than 10 years later he's the fucking hulk and swinging with corked bats as well! Now, after his debacle with baltimore and the year off, he sure has shrunk in size. I wonder why....?
I will also wholeheartedly disagree with your claim that he is the best player in the last 30 years. As someone else put it, he's a one-dimensional player. He can hit. Nothing else. Yes, it does take an incredible amount of skill to hit big-league pitchers, and he has it, but he just didn't have the size he wanted before he started cheating. The guy was tiny when he started in the league.
Lets use an example of a similar situation from my team, the White Sox: Frank Thomas. He was GIANT when he started in the league... he is STILL FUCKING HUGE! He can hit the ball, but he's so-so out on the field. Back when the league went on strike he was on pace that year to smash the then HR record. He never juiced. He was giant to begin with and he used his natural abilities. That doesnt make him the best player ever, but he's pretty good, just like Bonds. (Speaking of Sox, going to watch them demolish the Tigers at Comerica on Saturday. I just hope I dont get shot sporting my Sox World Champs hoodie...)
Going back to the point, I can name a dozen people off the top of my head in the last 30 years who were better players than Bonds. Just because you can knock them out of the park, doesn't make you stellar on defense, or a great base-stealer. Being well-rounded makes a player great. Something, sadly, Bonds lacks. Im not knocking the talents he does have, I'm trying to say he didn't have a reason to cheat in the first place. Regardless of if or when he breaks the record, he will still have to overcome a LOT of negative sentiment against him to be remembered as great. Look at maguire, he got the shaft on his first chance at being elected into the hall of fame. Expect that to repeat for awhile, and expect it to repeat for Bonds.