You know what I wish Barry Bonds would do?

[bertha katzenengel]

Hit number 754 and retire the next day.

I loved his dad. And the only thing I really have against Barry is his god damned grandstanding.

Dude. Can't you just run the bases -- HUMBLY -- when you go yard? :eyes:

Steroids? I dunno.

But I really really don't want him to break Aaron's record.

Your thoughts?

[SteppingRazor]

1. Steroids ... you don't know?

Oh come now. Let's not be naive. Just compare a picture of him his rookie year with one now. Look at that gi-normous head. The difference is irrefutable. I don't think the question is whether he did steroids. It's whether, in an era when just about every power hitter was doing steroids, his feats still have meaning. I think they do. It cheapens the record when compared to players of the pre-steroid era (Hank Aaron, for example), but you still can't help but argue that Bonds is the great hitter of our times.

You know who I really feel bad for? Ken Griffey Jr. There's a guy whose head stayed the same size.

[bertha katzenengel]

5. Oh, I don't doubt that he took them.

I just don't know... well, I don't know what I don't know. I'm not giving him a break. I just... well, shee-it. I dunno.

Yeah. Bonds is the great home run hitter of our time. But look how he got there.

Okay. Maybe now I know how I feel about the 'roids.

756*

[Wetzelbill]

7. which is ironic because in The Simpsons

when they had the softball team with MLB stars, Griffey's character was portrayed with a condition that made him get a huge head. :)

[ghostsofgiants]

18. That episode's a classic.

And is the extent of my baseball knowledge.

[flvegan]

9. His gi-normous head is likely from human growth hormone.

I think he's used quite the anabolic cocktail, as well.

[RedStateShame]

10. Griffey? As a Reds fan, I almost wish he had!!

Remember those Mariners years, when Griffey was right behind Sosa and McGwire in that home run chase, though he was significantly smaller? Then he comes to the Reds, and begins the annual tradition of the Griffey Season-Ending Injury. I used to put an over-under on when Griffey'd be done for the season. I think the slow deterioration of his body is pretty good evidence that he's not taking anything except aspirin.

[SteppingRazor]

11. A fine point, though to be fair, Griffey knocked out 35 HRs in 2005...

and has been on point since then. He'll probably get over 600 this season.

Were it not for the season-ending injuries in 02, 03, AND 04, he'd still be right up there with Bonds, and doing it without the performance enhancers.

[flvegan]

12. No, Bonds.

I don't know anything about Griffey taking anything he shouldn't have.

[Reverend_Smitty]

14. Out of all the big home run hitters of the past 10 years...

Griffey is the only guy that I wouldn't have minded if he beat Aaron's record. I'm not a Reds fan or anything but I respect him as a player and even more so because he never dabbled in Roids. It's just a shame he was so snake bitten when it came to injuries. But when it's all said and done, he'll have had one hell of a career

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. I think he, and Aaron, and the Babe can each have their place in history.

On steroids; players have to have ability to make it to the big leagues. I cannot inject a steroid today and hit a home run tonight. We would have to asterisk every record for all different reasons (ex. the length of the season was shorter in Babe's day and he was a pitcher, not an every day player at first, blacks were not allowed to play in his day, who knows if players were coked up, juiced up even back then). A record is a record is a record. I don't hang my hat on them heavily. I know a good ball player when I see one. And I still remember seeing Aaron playing for the Brewers when I was four and my daddy leaned over and said,"See that guy there? You can tell your kids you got to see one of the greatest players ever play." :hi:

[skygazer]

8. Good point

But shame on you for injecting logic and common sense into a Lounge debate! :spank:

[LynneSin]

3. As far as I'm concerned Aaron will always be the record holder

Bonds is nothing more than a no-class roid-head

[DS1]

4. I thought you were going to say "Pay for the medical bills for you and your cats"

but apparently I was wrong :)

[bertha katzenengel]

6. Hell, he could pay for a helluva lot more than that.

Anyone who has tons and tons of obscene amounts of money should have a built-in moral imperative to change the world. But wtf do I know.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. I want him o show some integrity and ask to have all his stats wiped out of the record books,

and then resign.

[Joe Fields]

15. personally, he should be kicked out of baseball, and

any record of his should be notated as steroid enhanced, thus making it illegitimate.

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. That would only make him a martyr

"That's Barry Bonds, son. He could've been the greatest home run hitter of all time, but he chose to do the right thing."

Y'know what I wish for Bonds? Remember a guy who used to pitch for the Giants named Dave Dravecky?

That.

:evilgrin:

[bertha katzenengel]

21. That's cold.

Spoken like the most rabid of Dodgers fans.

[cboy4]

25. I know. There's something about them that makes me hope

their team finishes in last place year after year.

[cboy4]

24. You know, that's really obnoxious wishing someone to suffer

cancer, like the cancer that ended Dave Dravecky's career.

It's not something anyone should joke about.

[ChoralScholar]

37. I can still hear the crack of his arm snapping

after his comeback.

Sad Sad stuff. I think he ended up losing the arm after that.

[bertha katzenengel]

42. His arm and his shoulder. n/t

[erpowers]

17. Why Barry Bonds

I realize you post has been nice compared to what some people have said about Barry Bond. However, I still wonder why Bonds get so much heat for steroids. Giambi, pretty much so admits that he used and no one seems to care. I know Giambi is not chasing a record, but he most likely used and very few, if any seem to be against him. In addition, there is Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens. People can say that Clemens has never failed a drug test,but Bonds has not failed a steroid drug test either. However, Clemens got recurited by three team willing to give him the world and noone gets upset about that. In addition, a person refused to testify in the Floyd Landis trial because they did not want to be asked questios about Lance Armstrong and again noone seems to have a problem with that. I think the person who did not testify in the Floyd Landis trial was trying to hide the fact that Armstrong used steroids during his Tour De France wins. Armstrong became a hero for winning the race and broke the record for the number of consectuive times the race was won. However, noone seems angry that he may have used steroids.

I do believe steroid use is wrong, but I also think people should be consistent about the issue. If it is wrong for one person to use them than it should be wrong for all people to use them.

[bertha katzenengel]

22. He's the guy in the light right now -- that's why he's getting the heat.

That's the only reason he's getting it from me. I felt the same way about Mark McGuire when he broke Roger Maris's record. :(

[KamaAina]

19. Not to worry. Even when Bonds does hit No. 756*,

the all-time home run king will continue to be Sadaharu Oh with 868.

[wildhorses]

20. oh snap!!!

well played

:applause:

[bertha katzenengel]

23. EXCELLENT!

:yourock:

[Oeditpus Rex]

30. I think I'll wander over to the VFW hall in a couple hours

and see if they're watching the Giants game.

:evilgrin:

[Shakespeare]

26. I keep hoping he'll do like Phil Hartman's SNL character on the all-steroid olympics.

If you know the skit, I need say nothing else. ;-)

[Oeditpus Rex]

28. Is it anything like this Python bit?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uXhmgqaf1U

:rofl:

[Shakespeare]

29. Here's the way the skit goes:

News report from the all-steroid olympics. They cut to Phil Hartman (wearing a muscle suit), about to dead-lift 1500 pounds. He reaches down and grabs the bar, grunts and strains, and when he jerks upright, his arms rip off at the shoulders (hands still grasping the bar). :rofl:

[BrotherBuzz]

27. My mind thinks Bonds should be chasing McCovey's record

Had 'Stretch' played in that southpaw slugger wet dream ballpark they called Pac-Bell park, instead of Candlestick, he would have laid down some incredible stats for the record book. I'm just saying. :shrug:

[Oeditpus Rex]

31. Yeah, but if you're gonna play that game

you can extrapolate on just about anything.

If Mantle hadn't been hurt so much...

If Mays hadn't played 13 years in Candlestick...

If Koufax hadn't had an arthritic elbow...

:shrug:

[BrotherBuzz]

32. I know, but I was a Giants fan and McCovey was my hero as a kid

I feel the need to pump McCovey at every opportunity because he always seems to be overlooked. Pac-bell park would appear to have been tailor-made for Stretch, and it's a shame we never got to see him slug in it. Naming the cove in his honor was the next best thing.

[Oeditpus Rex]

33. Everybody who played with Mays got the short end

That's the SF sports media for ya, or was then. I swear, I thought Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons wanted to marry Mays.

But, yeah — I hated the Giants when I was a kid, but I couldn't hate McCovey. He was just too nice a guy. But, oh, dog, how he killed the Dodgers. :crazy:

[BrotherBuzz]

34. Small world, I delivered the afternoon paper to Russ Hodges' house

He was a good tipper. Oh, and Charles Einstein lived up the street from me. I went to school with one of his sons, and was invited to their house to meet Willie Mays - definitively a high point in my life.

[Oeditpus Rex]

35. Oh, man!

I was so sad when Charles Einstein died. He was one of the truly great sportswriters, and his editing job on Mays' autobiography was stellar. It's not like any other "jock bio" I've ever read; reading it is like listening to Willie Mays talk.

Where did Hodges live? I read his book, "My Giants," a long time ago. It's a really good read — much better than Hank Greenwald's "This Copyrighted Broadcast," which was a disappointment.

I assume you threw the Examiner — or was it the old Call-Bulletin? (I dunno if that was an a.m. or a p.m., but I had a journalism prof in college who'd worked there.)

[BrotherBuzz]

36. Both Hodges and Einstein lived in Mill Valley, my childhood hometown

I just read an obit on him by 'mystery Files', and learned that ‘Super Dave Osborn’ was his brother! I knew Albert Brooks was related, but not Super Dave Osborn! What a Hoot! The entire obituary merits a read. http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=115

Read Einstein's book Willie's Time. It's a wonderful read that blends history and Willie Mays together by superimposing Willie's career onto the political and social events that framed it, you will not be disappointed.

I delivered Marin County's Independent Urinal Journal. Charles' oldest son, David, covered sports for the IJ for many years (I assume he has moved on to bigger and better things). The Call-Bulletin was in its final death throes when I was delivering papers (we thought the old winos that delivered it might have had something to do with its demise).

[Oeditpus Rex]

38. I totally forgot he edited the 'Fireside' books

They're a must for baseball fans, IMO. I've got all four. :D

I've been meaning to get "Willie's Time" for years. The one I referred to is "Willie Mays: My Life In and Out of Baseball."

I used to know someone who was at the Marin IJ. Might've been Chris DeLuca, who was my editor for awhile at the Monterey County Herald. Now he's at the Chicago Trib.

[BrotherBuzz]

40. Here's the deal...

I'll read Willie Mays: My Life In and Out of Baseball, you read Willie's Time, and we'll split the fiction down the middle and compare notes when we complete the task. ;).

[Oeditpus Rex]

41. Done

:toast:

[nickgutierrez]

39. The obsession with records is ridiculous, anyway.

But I think the best way to make my point is by asking a question:

Who was the first major league player to be suspended under the first steroid policy for failing a steroid test?