Barry Bonds hits no. 715

It was 2:14 p.m. on a cool Sunday in May when Byung-Hyun Kim threw a 90-mph fastball to Barry Bonds. With the count full and a runner on base, Bonds took a swing at the ball and made a connection. This wasn’t Bonds’ swing of the past, the one where he got a perfect rotation from his hips, kept his bat under perfect control, got his legs into the swing, and drove the ball for what seemed to be miles and miles. No, this was Bonds’ new swing, his swing of the past few months. This was the swing where Barry barely moves his legs, doesn’t even get his right foot up to generate more power, and just flails around hopefully, trying to make some contact with the ball, and praying that he can hit it over the wall on pure upper body strength alone.And his prayers were answered. He hit the ball 445 feet to center field, stood at home plate for a moment, and just admired his work. As he jogged around the bases, his hometown fans in San Francisco went wild, giving him a standing ovation. However, no one outside of the Bay Area joined in the celebration. With a cloud of steroid accusations following Bonds wherever he goes, opposing fans have been, well, “less than appreciative” of Bonds’ accomplishments. In Philadelphia, on the night he hit homerun no. 713 to pull within one dinger of Babe Ruth, with his own mother in attendance, fans in Citizen’s Bank Park held up a sign that read, “Ruth did it on hot dogs and beer, Aaron did it with class, How did you do it?”  While playing a game in San Diego, a fan actually threw a syringe at Bonds while he was standing in the outfield.

In these years after the Steroid Age, everything Barry Bonds has done seems to be tainted on one level or another. During the summer of 1998, when Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were stalking the single season homerun record, the entire country was captivated. However, during the chase for the record, steroid accusations surrounded the two hitters. Surprisingly, this didn’t lower the public’s interest. Granted, McGwire and Sosa have now totally faded into obscurity, but during their hayday, no one cared whether or not they were on steroids. This is not the case with Barry Bonds. Everyone remembers exactly where they were when Hammerin’ Hank hit his 715th homerun, and it was on the front page of newspapers everywhere. Barry Bonds is not enjoying the level of exposure. On ESPN.com later that night, Barry wasn’t even the top story. Sam Hornish Jr. and his miraculous victory at the Indy 500 was front and center. Which begs the question, “Why does everyone hate Barry Bonds?”

Other ballplayers that were said to have taken steroids have been embraced by the public, such as Gary Sheffield and McGwire in his prime. Barry’s “roiding” can’t be the only reason that he is harassed by fans in opposing cities. Perhaps it is Bonds’ quality of disrespecting sportswriters and teammates. Dozens of times, beat writers for local newspapers have gone into the Giants clubhouse looking for one quote, one sentence, from Barry to complete their story, and have ended up walking away empty-handed.  And who has forgotten his fued with Jeff Kent? Barry singlehandedly drove the next best player on the team out of town, amidst reports of everything from racism to fistfights in the dugout. For his entire career, Barry has been a burden on team morale. He brings down the chemistry of any ballclub he plays for. Maybe Barry is now getting his just desserts. Maybe his cruel attitude his coming back to haunt him. Maybe, just maybe, after Barry shutting out the rest of the world for his entire career, the rest of the world decided to shut Barry out.