Yesterday fashion designer Marc Ecko unconditionally donated to the MLB Hall of Fame the home run ball Barry Bonds hit on August 7, 2008 (his 756th) to "technically" pass Hank Aaron as MLB's all-time career home run leader. Ecko paid $752,467 for the ball in September '07.Notably, before making the dontation, Ecko branded the ball with an astrisk to reflect the steroid allegations that have embroiled Bonds and his "record". In particular, Ecko arranged for a five star asterisk to be cut into the cowhide across the "Major League Baseball" moniker.
Bonds responded by calling Ecko an "idiot" and stated that he would boycott Cooperstown if the ball is ever displayed there. Now, a day after accepting Ecko's donation, Baseball is refusing to accept the ball under the guise that it perceives Ecko's donation to be, in reality, a loan.
Surely, this was to be expected, as Baseball has time and time again looked the other way when it comes to the steriod issue.
I say kudos to Ecko for doing the right thing by giving the ball to Baseball, and doing the more appropriate thing by: (1) honoring the integrity of the game; (2) honoring Hank Aaron, his record, and his character; and (3) publicly identifying Bonds' "record" for what it truly is. Especially, since fans cannot expect Major League Baseball to do it.
3 comments:
Here, here!
Hitting a home run is more about bat speed that muscle. Sure muscle helps but being able to see a ball moving 90mph and putting a piece of lumber on it that is less in diamater has nothing to do with steroids. Still takes talent. BB is an ahole. But how can you take his home runs away when for the vast majority of his career he was doing nothing illegal. In baseball's eyes.
Paul O'neil forever!
It's my view that HGH helps older players maintain high bat speeds late in their careers. It also helps them avoid injury and recover from injury faster as they become more prone to injury.
Bonds' bat speed slowed down significantly after the whole HGH outcry, and, w/o the stuff, he could no longer play through his knee problems. Kind of makes me think the junk really helped him in recent years. Of course, I have no proof that any of this is true; it's just my belief based on my observations.
I do agree with you that his vision and bat speed were already incredible, and, he didn't need HGH to be one of the all time great home run hitters/players; he just needed the stuff to become THE all time home run leader and single season record holder as he played into his late thirties and early fourties.
You can borrow my copy of Game of Shadows--very compelling stuff. After the McGwire/Sosa spectacular of '98 Bonds felt left out, and became obsessed with claiming the spotlight.
I also agree with you that BB is a a-hole and d-bag.
Long story short, if Baseball is going to keep No. 14 out of the H of F w/o direct evidence that his behavior impacted games, the same rational applies to Bonds (as well as the rest of the "Steroid Era Guys), where we have imperical proof that his ability to play and drive in runs directly impacted the outcome of games he played in late in his career.
Paul O'Neil only needed Gold Star Chili to be a great player.
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