News Feature - Barry Bonds Battles New Book

When you think of the legendary Sultans of Swat, baseball's all-time greatest home-run hitters, names like Willie Stargell, Reggie Jackson, Frank Robinson, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, instantly come to mind. The term home-run and the aforementioned elite have become synonymous with the long-ball. Sadly, though, names like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, and most of all Barry Bonds, don't roll off the tongue as easily as the greats of yesteryear. Amid a flurry of new allegations over his "apparent" steroid use, Barry Bonds now faces one of his toughest competitors to date, the upcoming book Game of Shadows, authored by the dogged San Francisco Chronicle reporters who have tracked the slugger's alleged juice use since the late 90's. As Bonds gets set to break Hank Aaron's all-time home-run record, a kharmic fastball may be the pitch that brings down the modern day Casey-at-the-Bat, or at least puts things into true perspective.

After years of investigative work, authors Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada have amassed a truckload of allegatory evidence via grand jury testimony, interviews with friends and witnesses, and countless sealed documents that point to Barry Bonds' rampant use of performance enhancing drugs en-route to becoming the greatest home-run hitter the game has ever seen. What's most interesting about the book is how it apparently sheds light on an all-important partial motive behind Bonds' apparent use of enhancements. In a recent article published by Yahoo! Sports writer, Dan Wetzel, Game of Shadows uncorks the mystery surrounding Bonds' rationale, "It is the details that are too deep and precise for Bonds to ignore. It is also the revelation that Bonds, in 1998, watched the circus performances of Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and all the other highly suspicious stars of the steroid era and felt the need to keep up. So he turned to drugs." Add to that, in his recent article, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Ron Kroichick exerpts a relevant passage from the Game of Shadows, "'But as the 1998 season unfolded, and as he watched Mark McGwire take over the game -- his game -- Barry Bonds decided that he, too, would begin using what he called 'the s -- .' "

If there's ever a near positive test that two wrongs don't make a right, there it is baseball fans. Do we have conclusive proof that Mark McGwire was juiced up for his home-run record back in 1998? How about Sammy Sosa and the juice, not to mention the corked bats? What about Barry Bonds and the record setting pace he's on to break Hank Aaron's all-time home run record? Who really wants to believe our heroes are flawed? Someone once said, to be flawed is to be human, and that's the cruel reality of life. If anything, the upcoming March 27 release of Game of Shadows may give creedence to the age old diamond cliche "three strikes and you're out."

Let's face it, the truth is, Major League Baseball lost its integrity long ago, even before the whirlwind of rumors surrounding Barry Bonds. Who can forget the fact that the game was in near shambles in the early to mid-90's after the fallout from the 1994-95 strike. Fans were running from the game faster than a leaky toilet while teams struggled to stay afloat or even stay in one city for that matter. You know there's a problem when the expansion newcomer Florida Marlins win the world series. Ironically, and supposedly according to Game of Shadows, that was one year prior to Bonds' apparent beginnings with performance enhancing drugs in 1998. Does one thing have anything to do with the other? Who knows, that's the beauty of irony. But, as we know, it's just all idle speculation and theory from the dim-witted fan perspective, right? The point being, the argument can be made that Major League Baseball turned a blind eye to apparent drug use for the sake of reinjecting excitement back into the game. As much as Barry and the boys are taking a beating these days, who's really at fault here? It's interesting to note that after the recent gambling scandal to come out of the National Hockey League, many insiders, critics and fans condemned the NHL as just another bush league rampant with corruption. The line between reality and hypocrisy, according to public record, is that the NHL didn't know the integrity of the game was being compromised. Can those close to Major League baseball say the same? That question may never be answered and certainly makes for great water cooler banter.

In an era where credibility and integrity have given way to a public hunger for speculation, scandal, and sensationalism, on some strange socio-psychological level it makes sense that cheating has become accepted. Everyone loves a scandal more so than credibility. When credible news organizations replace respected journalists with entertainment reporters, the line between reality and sensation is ambiguous at best. But, that's an entirely different debate. Has the public also turned a blind eye to baseball's problem? To some degree, yes. Sure, it's exciting to watch these super-heroes shatter baseball's most coveted records. However, cashing in on short term stimulation has long term affects and often detrimental implications. On another level, if the integrity of baseball has vanished into thin air, it can also be looked upon as a reflection of our own society and the standards we set for ourselves at large. Have we as a collective let our own integrity slide to be at peace when such things occur? Are any of us truly surprised by the ongoing allegations? Of course not, but who's to blame for letting things get too far out of hand? Unfortunately, in the end, names like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, and most of all Barry Bonds, don't roll off the tongue as easily as they did only a few short years ago. Maybe the answers are now buried in the past? The home-run race sure tastes great while you're watching it, but in the end, it's much less filling than it used to be.