Cletus Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 I was going to place this under the baseball topic but no one probably cares. Barry Bonds hit 756 last night at Candle Stick in San Francisco. He was skinny as a Pittsburgh Pirate if anyone remembers. Maybe its just the aging process. I remember watching Hank Aaron hitting 715 on television that night when I was a kid over 30 years ago. Oh, how the years go on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 Bonds (and Major League Baseball) is a farce..... Ruth and Aaron didn't have to cheat to get the record. There should be a huge asterick next to this record. Baseball (and its records) has no integrity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 Bonds (and Major League Baseball) is a farce..... Ruth and Aaron didn't have to cheat to get the record. There should be a huge asterick next to this record. Baseball (and its records) has no integrity. I think that your statement may go a little too far, Terry. You can't deny that Bonds has hit 756 HRs - that's just the fact of it. But it's also a fact that almost nobody is happy about it - the commissioner, the fans, the old record holders. There's been a movement pushing the recipient of the ball from the 756th home run to throw it back! I doubt that that happened, but do you remember when Mark McGuire hit his 70th in a season, I think somebody paid $3 million for it. Bonds has all but killed the memorabilia market, according to SI. They said in a recent article that his 756th ball will probably bring $400,000 or less. So I don't know that it's completely accurate to paint the situation with such a broad brush Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 I know it is a broad brush.... and baseball deserves it. The commissioner and MLB could (and should) have stopped this, but they haven't. They have offered 'lip service' about performance enhancing drugs but nothing has been done. I think the reason is that it is so pervasive that they don't know what to do. They did not even start to move until the criminal system got involved. I would argue that this (steroid use) is much worse that Pete Rose betting on games because it strikes directly into the integrity of the game and records. It will have a long and corrosive effect on baseball. On Bonds, he is going to have the world fall down on him in the next year or so with criminal investigations into illegal use of steroids, tax fraud, etc. - not to mention the physical repercussions from injecting himself with who knows what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacVP Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 Ya know, as a baseball fan I didn't want to see this happen. Its just sad to see so many ball players now a days getting all juiced up. It's just sad how many players have lost a respect for the game. Performance should be enhanced by hard work... not by using a syringe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 I have to agree with tmh8286 in the sense that Baseball has always been a game with problems. Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe & The BlackSox, Pete Rose... heck, even HOF players like Willie Mays were known to play on amphetamines. Does that justify Bonds cheating? No. But it sure isn't anything new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU Eli Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I was a baseball fan up until about high school when I figured out that no salary cap, in most cases, eliminates half the teams before a game is even played. Cheating seems to run far more rampant in baseball than any other sport and the Steinbrenner evil empire drives me up the wall. It doesn't help that my favorite team has always been the Rangers...and they're never much to root about after Spring Training is over but I'm so turned off to the sport. I enjoyed going to Cubs games when I lived in Chicago for the tradition and the great feel of being able to walk 5 minutes and sit in the stands at Wrigley and eat a hot dog and there are some playoff games that are fun to watch, but all in all, it's a tainted league. Bud Selig is a joke. They need to get a guy like Roger Goodell, who I already have so much respect for, and clean up the league. Until they do, I'm a fairweather fan at best. As for Bonds, I hope he gets what he deserves...and that's not a place in the record books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceManSpiff Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 The NBA and MLB have the same problem. Commissioners that try to pass the blame to others by never take accountability for problems in their "Leagues." As long as they are in charge I won't be interested in either sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Minyard Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I'm one of the few, but I'm fine with Barry Bonds holding the record without an asterisk. A lot of us probably would have done the same thing he did if in that position. People do stupid things when they find a way to justify it. He's still a great baseball player. Baseball should have stopped steroids a long time ago, but MLB loved the ratings and attendance too much. People were flooding the gates to see Big Mac and Sosa a few years back. I guess you could really point the finger at the baseball strike. That is really what ste it off for baseball. Owners needed to bounce back after losing millions. Money ruins a lot of things, and baseball happened to be one of those things. Will I ever put much stock into the baseball records books? No. With that said, I'm a Barry Bonds fan. I enjoy watching him play when I happen to watch a SF game. Bonds and McGuire are the only two guys in my life time that I felt would hit a home run every at-bat. Side note... I'd much rather watch two pitchers battle it out, but it's fun to watch home runs too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Baseball REALLY needs to let Mark Cuban buy the Cubs. I've read where several MLB members like Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo and potential cross-town rival Jerry Reinsdorf have come out and VEHEMENTLY opposed him.. funny how how Steinbrenner doesn't care... or at least hasn't said anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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