New Book details Barry Bond's Steriod Use

[DurbBird]

These two articles are from the Onion, America's finest news source.

Barry Bonds: "I Won't Retire Until I've Tarnished Every Record in the Book."

Sammy Sosa Retires 12 Home Runs Short of Steroid Investigation

[ledzepp8]

How do you feel about pitchers who used illegal pitches? What do you feel about players using greenies to keep their energy high? Corked bats?

Not saying all those are as bad as steroids, just wondering where you stand on those competitive advantages.

Obviously there is a difference. Illegal pitches and corked bats are not against the law. There has to be a specific rule against spit balls or vaseline or corked bats in order for someone to know not to use them. Are you trying to say that Bonds or Raffy or Giambi had to have a specific rule(which I still there probably was)for them to know that steroids were wrong to use and helped them cheat. They are illegal in any situation. People are just playing dumb and being as naive to the situation as MLB was when they say "it's not cheating because there wasn't a rule in place".

[NJOriolesFan]

Obviously there is a difference. Illegal pitches and corked bats are not against the law. There has to be a specific rule against spit balls or vaseline or corked bats in order for someone to know not to use them. Are you trying to say that Bonds or Raffy or Giambi had to have a specific rule(which I still there probably was)for them to know that steroids were wrong to use and helped them cheat. They are illegal in any situation. People are just playing dumb and being as naive to the situation as MLB was when they say "it's not cheating because there wasn't a rule in place".

Ever cheat on an exam to enhance your grade, which enhanced your GPA, which got you a better job, which payed you a higher salary, which caused the price of a product to go up, which resulted in the taxpayer (me) paying more for that product? If you have, I want my money back.

[Max Power]

Yes, but he wouldn't have been in the HOF if he would have killed her before the vote happened. And he shouldn't have been.

Conduct and character matters, which is why Bonds should never be in the Hall.

Then why is Ty Cobb in the Hall of Fame? Ted Williams? Or even Kirby Puckett who while never convicted had some awful allegations against him?

Barry Bonds is a Hall of Famer no matter what. The only reason he wouldn't get in is because of sprtswriters who are bitter over the way he has treated them over the years.

[NJOriolesFan]

Then why is Ty Cobb in the Hall of Fame? Ted Williams? Or even Kirby Puckett who while never convicted had some awful allegations against him?

Barry Bonds is a Hall of Famer no matter what. The only reason he wouldn't get in is because of sprtswriters who are bitter over the way he has treated them over the years.

Who did Ted Williams kill or allegedly sexually assualt?

[Icebird]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/tom_verducci/03/08/bonds.qa/index.html?cnn=yes

[BRobinsonfan]

Nobody knows Walsh because he pitched from 1904-1917. Besides his ERA, he did nothing else memorable as a pitcher with a mediocre win total and he didnt have a cool nickname like "Old Hoss" or "Smokey Joe".

Um... he did win 40 games one season. That's kinda memorable.

And he won 27 games twice and 24 once. Not too shabby.

[ledzepp8]

I'm up for the challenge. Cite examples where he is or has been a jerk. Where has he blamed others for his problems? Bonds cheated in the sense that he did something that was wrong but baseball did not have a drug policy in the CBA. I know everybody has said he is a jerk but I have never seen him be more of a jerk than 50%-70% of the players in baseball. I don't think he has ever been as bad as Albert Belle or Jeff Kent or Jim Rice or Dave Kingman or Roberto Alomar or countless others. I know people don't like him and people like to say he is a jerk but where are the anecdotes that show that he has been anything more than cynical and aloof?

-He's always playing the race card, saying it's tougher for him because he's black.

-When asked about participating in one Homerun Derby, instead of simply declining, he said he didn't want to go and that he didn't have to.

http://www-tech.mit.edu/V123/N57/57col.57s.html

-In a feature to kick-off the baseball season this year, Sports Illustrated covered the defending National League champion Giants. They visited Arizona where the Giants were opening Spring Training and watched fans, including kids, waiting before practice to catch a glimpse of their heroes.

Players walked out of the clubhouse and signed autographs, chatted briefly with the crowd, and moved on. When Bonds stepped out, the buzz was audible until he stopped, looked around at the eager faces and snarled, "You people need to get a life."

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/9-3-2003-44967.asp

-How about him telling Ron Kittle(who was asking for an autograph), "I don't sign for white people".

His defense: "Who is Kittle? How long did he play? He played in our league?" Bonds said, lying on a clubhouse couch before Thursday's game against the Kansas City Royals. "Ha! Do you guys believe that? ... Do you guys know my life history a little bit? ... One, you insult my children, who are half-white. I was married to a woman who was white, so let's get real. I don't even know the guy. Tell him he's an ... idiot. Somebody said he wanted a piece of me. Tell him I'm at 24 Willie Mays Plaza and he can come get me anytime he wants to - with pleasure. Don't insult my family."

http://aofg.blogs.com/the_airing_of_grievances/2005/06/barry_bonds.html

-Once while in Pittsburgh, he refused to sign a ball to be auctioned off for Children's Hospital. They had to buy one from QVC and get all the other players to sign it! Un-freakin'-believable.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/leastliked/readers/010815.html

-When speaking about his knee surgeries last season: Bonds droned on saying "You [the media] wanted me to jump off a bridge, and I finally did. You finally brought me and my family down......So now go pick a different person."

"Let's be honest, this is a man who made $100,000 to appear with Alex Rodriguez at an event in New York City this winter and kept the money when Rodriguez, gave his money to charity."

http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2005/3/24/12296/8411

-He had his son sit alongside him during a press conference and talked about how the media is to blame for all of his troubles and how they are hurting his family.

[RShack]

Then why is Ty Cobb in the Hall of Fame? Ted Williams?

Ted Williams never did anything wrong. He just got ticked off at the BOS sportswriters, and with good reason.

[JohnD]

I must have missed the law passed by congress which says the rules of MLB can supercede anything passed into federal law. Is that part of the anti-trust exemption baseball gets?

[NJOriolesFan]

-He's always playing the race card, saying it's tougher for him because he's black.

-When asked about participating in one Homerun Derby, instead of simply declining, he said he didn't want to go and that he didn't have to.

http://www-tech.mit.edu/V123/N57/57col.57s.html

-In a feature to kick-off the baseball season this year, Sports Illustrated covered the defending National League champion Giants. They visited Arizona where the Giants were opening Spring Training and watched fans, including kids, waiting before practice to catch a glimpse of their heroes.

Players walked out of the clubhouse and signed autographs, chatted briefly with the crowd, and moved on. When Bonds stepped out, the buzz was audible until he stopped, looked around at the eager faces and snarled, "You people need to get a life."

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/9-3-2003-44967.asp

-How about him telling Ron Kittle(who was asking for an autograph), "I don't sign for white people".

His defense: "Who is Kittle? How long did he play? He played in our league?" Bonds said, lying on a clubhouse couch before Thursday's game against the Kansas City Royals. "Ha! Do you guys believe that? ... Do you guys know my life history a little bit? ... One, you insult my children, who are half-white. I was married to a woman who was white, so let's get real. I don't even know the guy. Tell him he's an ... idiot. Somebody said he wanted a piece of me. Tell him I'm at 24 Willie Mays Plaza and he can come get me anytime he wants to - with pleasure. Don't insult my family."

http://aofg.blogs.com/the_airing_of_grievances/2005/06/barry_bonds.html

-Once while in Pittsburgh, he refused to sign a ball to be auctioned off for Children's Hospital. They had to buy one from QVC and get all the other players to sign it! Un-freakin'-believable.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/leastliked/readers/010815.html

-When speaking about his knee surgeries last season: Bonds droned on saying "You [the media] wanted me to jump off a bridge, and I finally did. You finally brought me and my family down......So now go pick a different person."

"Let's be honest, this is a man who made $100,000 to appear with Alex Rodriguez at an event in New York City this winter and kept the money when Rodriguez, gave his money to charity."

http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2005/3/24/12296/8411

-He had his son sit alongside him during a press conference and talked about how the media is to blame for all of his troubles and how they are hurting his family.

Maybe I should have said reputable sources. All of those are from blogs out in cyberspace that anyone can create or from readers comments. I'm sure some of thos things might be true but if I dissect that there isn't much there other than he is aloof and cynical. So what. He is allowed to be a private person and not be bugged. So many Hall-of-Famers acted the same way. Ken Griffey Jr. is another guy who I've witnessed first hand act like a jerk.

[NJOriolesFan]

We sure have a lot of people here passing judgement about lying, cheating and breaking the law. I guess none of you ever did any of those things.

[ledzepp8]

We sure have a lot of people here passing judgement about lying, cheating and breaking the law. I guess none of you ever did any of those things.

What difference does it make? Of course we've all done these things but it has nothing to do with Barry Bonds cheating at baseball. To be honest I don't really care if he gets inducted into the HOF. I just don't want to see him surpass Ruth or Aaron. And if he does then they need to put a disclaimer on the record books so everyone for the rest of time knows his numbers were tainted.

[ledzepp8]

Maybe I should have said reputable sources. All of those are from blogs out in cyberspace that anyone can create or from readers comments. I'm sure some of thos things might be true but if I dissect that there isn't much there other than he is aloof and cynical. So what. He is allowed to be a private person and not be bugged. So many Hall-of-Famers acted the same way. Ken Griffey Jr. is another guy who I've witnessed first hand act like a jerk.

So just because some of them are blogs means that the incidents were made up?

[NJOriolesFan]

So just because some of them are blogs means that the incidents were made up?

Read my post. I said I am sure some of those things are true. On WFAN I heard that ARod also kept the money to himself until word got out and then he donated it to charity. ARod has also done some things with limited signings on "historic" events to line his pocket with cash.

All I am saying is you can like him or hate him and you can call him a cheat or say he "played within the rules" but he is no different than half of the players out there. Many guys did steroids, batters AND pitchers. Many guys are jerks. Personal anecdotes will tell us what we want to know. We don't need an asterisk to tell us anything.

We all know that Babe Ruth was a law breaking alcoholic and womanizer.

We all know that Ty Cobb was a murderer, social deviant and nasty player.

We all know that many players were racist, alcohics/drugaddicts, cheaters, jerks and adulterers.

But I have never seen Babe Ruth*, Ty Cobb*, Ted Williams*, Paul Molitor*, Gaylord Perry* or any other player (except Roger Maris) with an asterisk anywhere near their name or accomplishments.

You worry about Bonds breaking Ruth's non-record. Ruth had his issues to. You call Bonds a jerk because he place the race card. Hank Aaron still plays the race card and he lived through real racism as did Bonds' father and godfather. So don't go telling me that Bonds is any different than many of our greats. Do you know if Aaron or Ruth took greenies or not (they and other things were prevelant in baseball in their day)? Greenies are performance enhancers.