Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Barry Bonds...Then and Now

Barry Bonds started his career on the Pittsburgh Pirates, and I remember that Barry. He was slim, sleek and a slasher. He could hit for power, and he hit plenty of homers, but he was no monster. Then something changed, and around 1999, he started to hit everything out of the park. And he began to get huge, out of the blue. Accordingly, his home run totals skyrocketed, and he began to approach Henry (Hank) Aaron's all-time home run record of 755. Then, things started to fall apart for Barry. His personal trainer got arrested. Barry had to testify with regards to whether this buddy of his had been supplying steroids to numerous MLB players, including Barry. The world, which had known for a while that Barry was surly and supernaturally-strong, came down on him. But he kept playing, and this season he has Hank in his sights, with 742 homers as of yesterday. Henry Aaron has not called the once-slender Barry, and this hurts the slugger's feelings. He has complained about the lack of encouragement from the record-holder.

I am not crying for Barry, but I am saddened that Hank Aaron will most likely have his record broken by a steroid user. If you do not believe Mr. Bonds used anabolics, check out the attached photos. You decide.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Barry was my favorite player as a young person. Bar none. I thought he was the best, despite his sometimes surly attitude. But, he turned from Willy Mays into Babe Ruth almost overnight. He had never hit more than 49 HR in a season until 2001 in which he hit 73 at the age of 36.

It is not just his fault, however there are a whole host of people to blame. He was not elected to the all-century team in 2000 despite having three MVP's and being the 1st person in history to be on pace to have 400 HR and 400 SB and now has since got 500 and 500.

The media and the fans wanted the home runs so instead of relying on the absolute talent he was he takes steroids and HGH. I blame MLB as much as Barry. I certainly don't think he deserves the Home Run record and the pictures you posted are so obvious what happened it borders on the ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

#743 last night...will they catch him before breaking Hank's record?

Anonymous said...

no, i doubt it. to catch him would be to admit to a failed and corrupt system.

Anonymous said...

744

Anonymous said...

745, will 756 come in Fenway?