Barry the Ghost

Put away your black suits and glum faces, this is not a time of mourning.  No one will be etching an epitaph into a headstone anytime soon, baseball is alive and well.  It was as inevitable as death and taxes, maybe it got out of hand, shoved under the rug for someone else to deal with as the repercussions reached an incurable state, but Barry Bonds was going to be dealt with one way or another.  Major League Baseball should have been the ones to deal with their mess, it would have been the honorable thing to do, sort of like how Old Yeller’s owners laid him to rest after he contracted rabies, but never-the-less the situation is finally over.

These are not the last days of an empire.  Rome isn’t burning, this is the rebirth of a great sport regressing into purer times.  Alert the prophets, the end of the game’s darkest era is among us, the sun can finally shine on all of those honest and forthright.  There is only one more prophecy to be fulfilled, and that is the Mitchell Report.  We’ve already weathered the storm, we have been for years, these new developments aren’t new at all.  As far as the Bonds indictment is irrelevant because all of the information has already been digested by the public and is generally accepted as the truth.  In case you need a refresher, what this whole thing is telling us is this:  Bonds used steroids he purchased, or obtained through a liaisons acting on his behalf, from BALCO and one Victor Conte. 

Isn’t this what everyone wanted?  What we’ve been waiting for?  I never wanted to see the man facing 30 years in jail, I don’t think anyone did, but if that gives you some solace I don’t blame you.  This criminal high-jacked our sacred record books and desecrated the game we love.  Maybe, just maybe, we can finally begin the cleansing process.  The things Bonds accomplished on the diamond are irreversible, he did what he did and the memories, horrific or otherwise, will forever be etched into our brains.  What we can change is the data and, if convicted, we finally have a leg to stand on.  If it is proven that he did indeed ‘knowingly’ take the clear why can’t we just erase his name from the record books and act like he never existed?  They did it to Chris Webber after it was found that he accepted money while at Michigan, why not do it to Bonds?

A lot of people say this would be a very complicated process but I disagree.  Well, as long as you don’t make it one, it’s a simple twofold process.  Just leave his name in the box scores, and add a note stating that baseball does not recognize his individual efforts due to rules infractions at the bottom.  That’s it, you don’t have to adjust all the pitching statistics or team records like the SABR people have suggested.  Then turn Bonds into a ghost in the record books.  The single season home run record would go back to Roger Maris.  What about Mark McGwire, you ask?  As far as I’m concerned he came close enough to admitting his usage so since we are fixing history he gets skipped over.  No need to bring the black clouds back around.  Then Hank Aaron would be relisted as the all-time king, Babe Ruth would be the walks leader, and so on. 

It’s the perfect ending to a nightmare.  The sport needs cleansing and this is the way to do it.  It would set the right example for America’s youth.  How are you supposed to tell your kids that cheaters never win when all they have to do is point a finger at baseball and say ‘what about Barry Bonds’?  How do you answer give a proper answer to that question?  More importantly, we, as fans, need this.  We’re the ones that suffered through all of the awkward moments, not Bonds.  How will we be vindicated if he goes to prison?  Those feelings from 756 have resurfaced for all of us, now we finally have grounds for removal.  Do the right thing.   

Even if it doesn’t happen at least we have a new day to hang our hats on.  This is truly the first step in the right direction, there will be some backtracking, a few more hero’s will fall, but when it’s all said and done only the righteous will remain.  God-willing, one day we will have our clean home run kings.  Hopefully sooner rather than later.  If somehow Bonds beats this case we have the power to do something about it.  Public perception is a hard thing to eclipse, and in the end we hold the power to determine how this man is remembered.  If we refuse to acknowledge these accomplishments, then did it really happen?

I never would wish prison time on any man, especially one who has a family that depends on him.  Sure, he has all the money in the world and they will be financially secure, but emotionally and developmentally no one should be without a father.  Those kids didn’t make those decisions and in the end they will suffer as much as Bonds.  They are the ones that will be left to deal with public ridicule and scorn when, or if, he is behind bars.  That’s not fair.  For something considered a victimless crime, a lot of people are going to suffer.

Possibly the biggest repercussion, guilty or not, will be on his career.  I can pretty much guarantee that he will never step foot on a baseball diamond again.  Who would be willing to take the risk to sign him while he is in such a state of turmoil?  Who in their right mind would be willing to risk their job by offering Bonds a contract?  What owner would sign off on it?  I don’t care what city you are in, the fans would never accept him as one of their own.  The negative outweighs any results he could give you.

How ironic is it that a man that was just trying to get bigger and get some attention has effectively turned himself into a ghost?  All he wanted is for people to realize how great he is and it backfired.  Now, instead of branding his name into baseball, baseball has branded itself into him.  His artifact has been defecated the same way he has defecated the game.  Everything he has done has had an equal and opposite reaction on his life.  He took the steroids to get bigger, but instead it has made him invisible.  He’s already disappeared from the diamond, possibly the record books, and likely from the world as he knows it.  Locked away in obscurity while he replaced by more deserving the figures.  Every now and then his name will pop up to haunt us like a ghost, but it’s better than having his name in boldface at every book.