Bonds, the HR chase & the race issue

Not Flo from Mel's Diner. She told the world to kiss her grits on a weekly basis and America ate it up. She even got her on TV show. Double standard? I think so...

 

Fair enough Cran, just the way it looked from here.

 

I actually read this as being a joke against Whitlock and the name of his AOL column. But the follow-ups don't seem to suggest that reading.

I agree with cran, at least in how the media portrays Bonds. Everybody knows Bonds is a jerk with the media. You don't think that influences what they write about him? C'mon... The old 'revenge via column.'

 

Okay. Every Webster everywhere solemnly mourns the death of language.

 

Bonds wasn't even as popular in Pittsburgh as he should have been. The fans were far too busy liking Andy Van Slyke because he was funny and Bobby Bonilla because he used to smile all the time. As a Pirates fan, I still find that embarassing.

 

As a Braves fan, I loved watching Barry play left field for the Pirates.

 

I think in Game of Shadows it discusses the animosity Bonds had towards Van Slyke because he felt that fans embraced him/overvalued him because he was white. I don't doubt that Bonds felt that way, and I'm not sure that I can totally reject that feeling out-of-hand, either. And I love Van Slyke, as a player and as a guy.

What's the saying: "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not coming to get you," or something like that. Bonds has a HUGE chip on his shoulder, but that doesn't mean a good deal of what he was perceiving wasn't accurate. At least that's possible, IMO.

 

Thanks Chip - as ususal you add a lot to these type of discussions.

 

I really hate to admit it, but I can understand him thinking that. It sure didn't look good at the time and Pittsburgh can be pretty backwards.

Management did choose to lock up white players like Van Slyke, Jay Bell and Jeff King while making very little effort with Bobby Bonilla and Bonds. They had a chance to sign Bonds before the 1992 season to a very reasonable four-year extension and passed and his lack of popularity relative to those white players was probably a part of the thinking there.

Part of that was Bonds being surly, arrogant and rude. Though they seem to have a good relationship now, he clashed with Jim Leyland, who was very well-liked in Pittsburgh. And Van Slyke played the self-promotion game extremely well. Bell just seemed to be a good guy who was well-spoken.

Neither could carry Bonds' jock, even skinny, pre-PED's Bonds.

 

Having lived near Pittsburgh for a good period of time, I certainly can relate to the 'backwards' nature of a good part of the thinking there. And it wasn't any better 15 or so years earlier.

Yeah, I think it was that the Pirates locked up AVS and didn't lock him up that ticked Bonds off. Something like that. That rings a bell from Game of Shadows.

 

I think this hits at the heart of the problem here:

No, there's not any proof uncovered about Clemens yet. But who's leading the witch-hunt on Clemens? Who's making him testify before a Grand Jury? Who's writing books about him? Who's assigning Pedro Gomez to follow him around in (extended) spring training?

Bonds is getting an extraordinary amount of attention for someone who, officially, has a clean record in MLB terms. He's never been suspended. He's never failed a drug test. He's never been punished by anyone -- not the law, not Bud Selig, not the Giants.

Obviously, I'm aware of the circumstantial evidence. God knows I can see the effects with my own eyes. But that doesn't avoid the fact that Baseball -- MLB, its fans, its writers and beyond -- has done nothing to confirm or deny any of the accusations. They've let him hang, and they haven't even taken the time to give him a damn trial.

And I think where he gets the benefit of the doubt from his peers in the African-American community is in the hypocrisy of an unjust system, which they've all seen in action first-hand. They've seen their buddies, or themselves, get pulled over for DWB. They've been harassed by cops -- by The Man -- for doing nothing but standing in front of a store. They've been harassed, just like they see Barry is being harassed, and he's not being punished for whatever it is anybody else says he did wrong.

I think that's what people want to see: If he did wrong, then punish him. But if you're not going to punish him, then let it go.

Bonds has been under this particular microscope since at least 2001. Still, no suspensions. No indictments. No charges. No punishment by baseball, no punishment by the courts.

But, of course, the elephant in the room is ... baseball doesn't want to punish him. Because baseball has turned a blind eye to PEDs for a long, long, long time. Baseball has profited off PEDs. Baseball has profited off Bonds just like baseball profited off McGwire and Sosa before him.

And baseball won't punish Barry Bonds until he gives them no other choice. But he's too smart for that.

Because, of course, he's profiting off baseball, too.