Barry Bonds. Legend or Punk?

[thor]

Barry just joined the elite club of hitting HR#755, joining the all time HR leader club, with the likes of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, although under suspicion of using steroids. Should we celebrate or curse him. Is Bonds a record breaker or a cheat?

[mike_s]

To me, Tom Glavin winning his 300th game, is more exciting than anything that Barry Bonds can do now.


Remember all, Barry Bonds pesonal trainer has been in jail on contempt charges for months now to "protect" him from alleged steroid use. If Barry didn't do it, alll he'd have to do is testify that he didn't. pretty simple huh?


see Tracking Barry tough from jail
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/243171


gotta love this pic.

[94GTStang]

Oh snap that's a funny pic

[Illini_Fan]

I'm going with Punk -- purely gut feel, but I think he has taken plenty of steroids.

And yes,that is a great picture.

[diversteve]

Doesn't much matter, A-Rod's going to catch him on his way to 1000 sooner or later.

[mwhities]

I don't really care either way BUT, I hope a legend.. I have all of his rookie cards.

Michael

[mike_s]

Originally Posted by mwhities

I don't really care either way BUT, I hope a legend.. I have all of his rookie cards.

Michael

I'm stil not a fan of his. I've never like Bonds even before he got anywhere close to the record. I remember when he played years ago before he became "famous" and I didn't like him then.

I have no clue if I've got his baseball rookie card or not. But if I did, I'd definately sell it now just to capitalize off it's peak in worth. I suspect that when they find out he's been drugging, it's value will go down.



As for A-Rod catching him.... I hope so.

But Sammy Sosa is the closest 'active roster player' on the list with 604 total and 16 this year.

Ken Griffey Jr has 589 home runs, including 26 this year.
Frank Thomas (Blue Jays) has 505 as of now
Alex Rodriquez has 500 total with 36 this year. He's got 255 to go to catch up, which is still doable.

[georoc01]

Can I take both?

The guy has an amazing ability to hit the baseball. I doubt he was taking anything when he was with Pittsburgh at the start of his career.

The guy is also an egotistical jerk with a predisposition to hate the media. This was ingrained in him from his dad and godfather and how they were treated.

Not sure why they are so obsessed with nailing him on perjury charges. Aren't we on the fourth grand jury now and still haven't been able to make the case?

And I would agree, I think his hold on the record will be short lived. A-Rod should pass him within 10 years. The others are all too old or injury prone to do it.

[ReefHound]

Originally Posted by georoc01

And I would agree, I think his hold on the record will be short lived. A-Rod should pass him within 10 years. The others are all too old or injury prone to do it.

Exactly, A-Rod reached 500 faster than Bonds, Aaron, or Ruth. If he remains healthy he'll top 800 or more.

I'll play devil's advocate, not that I've ever been a Bonds fan. Steroids don't make you a superstar or a great player. I could take all the steroids in the world and I'm not playing in the big leagues. They can only enhance what is already there. Based on his power numbers it appears Bonds played fairly clean the first half of his career. Based on his numbers in those years it appears Bonds would have hit 500 and been a Hall of Famer anyway. Of course, cheating diminishes the record but many of those beloved legends of yesteryear were not saints either.

Maybe we should just eliminate all the rules and restrictions and judge athletes on what they can achieve however they wish to achieve it.

[mike_s]

Well I use Dale Murphy as a comparison.

He definately didn't use any enhancement/strength drugs as he was a devote Mormon and won't even drink coca-cola because it had caffine in it. I remember him doing Kool-Aid commercials.

He still hit just shy of 400 home runs in the same stadium that Hank broke the record in. he still won Sports Illustrate's "Sportman of the Year" one year and the National League MVP for 2 years and the Golden Glove 5 times.

Now he doesn't compare to Bonds, who's won MVP 7 times, but he did it with a lot more class.

So if you look at which one you'd rather be a 10 year old baseball fans "Hero", I wouldn't want my kid wanting to be like Barry Bonds.