The Zong

Putting aside for one minute the fact that Barry Bonds is reviled by folks in the media and Los Angeles, and the fact that he has become the face of steroid allegations all over the world of baseball, let’s review the reaction to home run #755 from the fans in San Diego (who have seen Bonds hit more home runs against them than any other team) and the reaction of commissioner Bud Selig. If you’ve been living under a rock for awhile you probably didn’t hear that he didn’t even applaud when Bonds tied Hank Aaron Saturday evening.

No matter how you feel about Bonds, and actually, because of the way you feel about him, this was history of a unique sort for the sports world. The great thing about sports is that you can choose to dismiss the garish numbers Bonds has put up over his career if you want to. Even though he’s never actually failed a steroids test, you can go with the popular assumption that he’s a cheater, and then write off the man’s natural talent and all his records because of that. I can’t blame you for it, and in fact my opinion of the man as a fan of both the Giants and the game lies somewhere in between reverence and shame. The point is that we’re fans, and fans are allowed to be critical because we pay to watch the games.

Major League Baseball, on the other hand, takes our money and we trust that they’ll do a good job preserving the game’s integrity, tradition and excitement. Bud Selig, for all the attendance records set during his tenure, oversaw every aspect of the administration of the league since being named Acting Commissioner in 1992. One of the most important choices he made was to turn a blind eye to a pervasive steroids-fueled culture within the sport just as long as the fans wanted to see more home runs hit. While everyone turns on Bonds as he breaks baseball’s most hallowed record, why the fuck isn’t anyone discussing the home run chase that “saved baseball” after the strike? Did Selig applaud Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire as they chased Roger Maris? How can anyone forget Sammy Sosa’s claim that he built his physique with “Flinstones Vitamins” and McGwire’s reluctant admission at the time that he was using Andro, much less Big Mac’s non-denial of steroids use under oath in front of congress? Selig can acknowledge the damage the steroids scandal has done to the game by putting his fucking hands in his pockets instead of applauding, but when will he acknowledge that Bonds is a product of a culture that he, himself encouraged for years until the BALCO scandal and Canseco’s book?

The real irony here is that steroids brought people back to the ballpark after the strike, which makes ignoring it a great business decision by Selig. When Bonds hit number 755, he had to be told to stand up by one of his staffers, and then he stood there with his hands in his pockets while San Diego’s home fans stood and cheered. This display of indifference (and hypocrisy) should stand as an enduring image long after Bud’s retirement, and should serve to remind all the Bonds-hating reporters and fans about who made the soiling of Aaron’s record possible in the first place.

- M.G.