So, as an official "MLB blogger," you understand, I feel an obligation to write about baseball, but as I do so, I always try to draw out some universal points, plus provide some (hopefully useful) explanations for why those of us who love America's Pastime do so so unconditionally.
Tonight, in Atlanta, Barry Bonds hit his all-time record 759th home run in the House that Aaron Built, i.e., Atlanta, the place where the former HR king, Hank Aaron played until near the end of his storied career (which ended back in Milwaukee, where he had started out.)
When Bonds broke Aaron's record a week ago in San Francisco, the Giants management played a video-taped message from Aaron on the center-field scoreboard. For those who have been paying even moderate attention, this development had to have come as a shock.
According to the Conventional Media Wisdom, Aaron did not support Bonds' pursuit of his hallowed record, that his statement that he had no intention (at age 72) of following Bonds around, waiting for him to do it, was somehow an affirmation of what I am going to call the White Man's Theory that Bonds has only accomplished what he has due to steroid-induced cheating.
The reason I have chosen this name for the anti-Bonds campaign so successfully waged over the past couple of years by a relatively small group of media elitists is that I have yet to meet the person of color to support what amounts to a legal and journalistic witch hunt against Bonds.
You need to know, dear reader, that one of my great activist passions in my youth was supporting anti-grand-jury-witch-hunt activists, courageous people who refused to testify against their friends and colleagues during the large-scale attempt to suppress leftists conducted by the evil Nixon administration in the early '70's. (My earlier activism involved the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, and early environmental consciousness, the gay rights and feminist movements.)
Therefore, it is entirely consistent for me to denounce those who would use the judicial system, not to attain true justice, but to persecute what one of the greatest playwrights of all time, Henrik Ibsen, called the "Enemies of the People."
The irony here is that Barry Bonds is not an enemy of the people, and the people themselves -- baseball fans -- know it. He is an enemy of the establishment.
I was sickened while in France to read a column in the International Herald Tribune reprinted from the New York Times, in which the author, whose identity I will spare for the moment, disparaged Bonds' accomplishments, declaring that Aaron is the "true king," a great man, while Bonds is a mere pretender to the throne.
With all due respect, Bonds has done many things in his career that Aaron never could have matched (walks, stolen bases, on-base percentage), not to mention Bonds' unparalleled and unprecedented role as the greatest Intimidator of all time. No one has ever affected the way opposing teams play baseball the way Bonds does.
If you really want to know how out of touch sportswriters and the fat-assed pundits are with the people who pay for seats in baseball parks, just look at the recent home runs Bonds has hit in San Diego, Milwaukee, and tonight, in Atlanta.
Before he bats there are the media-driven taunts and insults, plus the excited anticipation of the crowd. As he bats, there are camera flashes everywhere throughout the park. As he swings the bat and connects, at first there is a mixture of boos and cheers, but by the time he reaches first base, inevitably, the venue is overtaken by cheers, and a pretty good imitation of a standing ovation.
Tonight, as he trotted out to left field after his HR, the fans actually stood and cheered him so thunderously that he had to remove and tip his cap--several times.
The locals who have created much of the anti-Bonds content that pollutes our media environment are white men. The two Chronicle reporters, as I have previously noted, should be ashamed -- accepting secret grand jury excerpts from a self-serving source (a lawyer) trying to divert attention from his client, and never developing a single, on-the-record source or document to support their explosive allegations.
Even worse, the local fat-ass idiot white man columnist who has repeatedly dissed Bonds. I want to know what this guy has ever accomplished on or off an athletic field besides passing evil-smelling gas disguised as a newspaper rant?
As you may divine, I have had it with Bonds' critics, all of whom strike me as cowards, fools, and racists. For Christ's Sake, even this alleged "girlfriend," Kimberly Bell, is appearing nude in Playboy this fall, hoping to enrich herself by sharing her version of the "truth" about Bonds.
Give me a break. Gold-diggers, whores, would-be athletes, flatulent pundits, narrow-minded and misguided "investigative reporters," and all the other detritis of society will be lost to history.
Whereas those fans in left field in Atlanta tonight who stood and cheered Barry Bonds represent the very best of this game and its devotees -- the people who understand and appreciate greatness when we see it.
Note to Baer/McGowan: Bring Barry back next year. He already has 25 this season, and will reach at least 30-35, it appears. That brings him within striking distance of 800 HR's, not to mention 3,000 hits. Given your laudable commitment to Giants history, you need to shut out the idiots and listen to the people standing and cheering on the road.
Barry and a bunch of young guys: Not a bad vision for a ball club next year. After all, one thing the babbling classes don't realize is Barry is a teacher, a man who shares his massive knowledge about hitting and pitching with young players unselfishly.
I have known this for years, courtesy of my former students at Stanford, many of them athletes, who benefited from Bonds' kindness as he worked out on campus. But where is this fact disclosed in our dominant media?
Nowhere. You have to find an obscure blog post like mine to learn it.
Class dismissed.
-30-
6 comments:
HI,
I can not agree with you more. This is exactly what I would love to say, except that you had many more details that I didn't know about, and you said it much better than I ever could . Thank you for this entry. Shame on so many people
Thank you, Anonymous. Comments are always welcome here!
I don't know if Mr. Bonds took or did steroids, but I tell you what: if I took steroids, I still wouldn't be able to do what Mr. Bonds did. He is an artist athlete and he deserves respect and appreciation for his wonderful record.
Thanks, Cecilia, good to hear from you again. Some friends have told me they disagree "vehemently" with me on Bonds, but most who've reacted seem to agree with me. My main point is the disconnect between the press and the public. Tonight, for example, Bonds received a standing ovation as he came to bat in the 1st inning in Florida. What do the anti-Bonds forces think -- that the public is stupid?
Anti-Bonds critics argue about Bonds' unnatural numbers and his character. I have never once heard any Bonds critic mention his race. In fact, the only people who talk about Barry Bonds being an african-american are Bonds defenders. Nobody cares if he is white or black and especially because when breaking the record, he beat Hank Aaron who is also an african american. Whites would have no reason to be up in arms about that. I don't understand where you are getting your race based argument.
Thanks, Duke, for taking the time to post your comment. It's been about four decades since it was politically acceptable to criticize someone on the basis of race, so absolutely no one would ever admit a racist motive; besides, first, the person would have to be conscious of it.
Bonds is a complex character, including his utter arrogance and lack of inspirational character traits. I never said he was a nice guy. He's easy to hate. For certain white sports commentators, used to being entitled to have access to *anyone*, he is way too much to deal with, and I understand why they feel that way.
In a misguided son's fantasy of reality, Bonds tried to defend his Dad from the slights his Dad felt he'd suffered. When Bobby Bonds was growing up, his only expectation could have been the Negro Leagues.
He was overly sensitive to criticism and became a severe alcoholic. Barry Bonds suffered as a result. When he became old enough and good enough to take his revenge, he snubbed the sports writing establishment as it never had been snubbed. (All of this is well-documented.)
My only reason for noting his race is my awareness of all this history combined with a close reading of his main critics over the years. An arrogant, ungrateful black man with a monstrous chip on his shoulder -- that's Bonds.
The tragedy is not that he took steroids. Everyone did, more or less. The tragedy is he tried to take on the press, and turned the press hostile towards his quest.
Now he is paying the price. After all, as any passing witness can note, I am a white writer who often covers baseball. I've never met Bonds, nor do I desire to. I have no reason at all to like or defend him. I just call it as I see it. That my comments could light a firestorm confirms (to me) that my hypothesis is valid.
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