It’s looking like Barry Bonds is on the cusp of becoming the all-time home run king. I’m sure that parade planners and firework suppliers are gearing up for the event that should highlight the polar opposites of the baseball world; the Bonds haters and the Bonds lovers.
Yesterday afternoon, after resting his aching legs for the past three games, Bonds came up huge at Wrigley Field by going 3-for-3 with two jacks. Too bad the sad-sack Giants didn’t win the game. Looks like he just needed that little bit of downtime to break out of his -nearly personal worst- 0-for-21 streak at the plate. I guess you could make a case that the Giants should sit him more often.
When (not if, when) he hits number 755 and then 756, many will clamour for an asterisk, but many will also cheer on the new king. I, for one, will be cheering, but not too much. I really don’t care if Bonds did use performance enhancing drugs. I’m sure a lot of people did the majors. Since a large number of players were knocking so many home runs in the juiced-ball era, how come there are so few that even reach the 500 home run plateau?
Most fans don’t like Barry Bonds for anything out of a laundry list of reasons, some very good reasons too, but hell, he’s still a damn good player in my eyes.