756: WTF?

I can't believe it, I just can't.

Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's all-time home run record by hitting homer #756 out of the yard & into the record books. The question is, how'd he do it? How'd he get here in the first place?

It took 22 seasons for Bonds to accomplish the miraculous, to prove his humanity. He not only fired a shot for the whole world to hear; he has also left us wondering if his latest accomplishment was legitimate in the first place. So hard to believe that Barry Bonds has eclipsed Aaron's record once & for all but he has. And I'm not the only one to voice his misgivings about Bonds' record either.

Rewind to Summer 1998. We heard all the applause we could stand to hear when Mark McGwire belted his 62nd homer & the MLB commish was singing praises left & right about this glorious milestone in baseball history. Then fast forward to August 2007. Is anyone singing praises or giving up applause for Bonds' feat like they were for McGwire? No way. Now we understand what the phrase "too good to be true" means, even though it took almost a decade for us to figure out.

To go off on a small tangent here: back in June 1986, the New York Times carried a box score with info on Bonds' first homer in Atlanta. In the editions for that specific day (6/5/86) there was a small story about steroids & the trouble they would cause. Amazing how we could have blown that article off then but over two decades later, the irony of that story is frighteningly real. Trouble is, no one was listening to the clarion call about steroids & no one really noticed how they would penetrate into the world of professional sports with utmost ferocity. By then, the damage was already done. McGwire was through with baseball & by this point the HR totals were tarnished beyond rescue.

And now this. Why, Bud Selig, didn't you catch on to this problem by then? And why, Bud Selig, didn't you step up & take action on any player caught using steroids? Selig saw it coming & should have put the brakes on those players who used steroids a long time ago but no. Then we look at Bonds breaking the record books...& our cries of disgust become even more apparent: "Why?"

Bonds took the shortcut to success with steroids & compromised a whole sport in the process. Amazingly enough, he didn't need to use steroids, being the great player that he was. And yet being the great player that he is, he was human. In the world of jazz, John Coltrane performed music that scaled even the heavens in its passion & intensity but nonetheless he was human & didn't need to go the Barry Bonds route to make such great music.

Getting back to Barry though. There is a big price to pay for using steroids & he should have paid for it a while back. And yet here we are, looking at him hit homer #756 off a pitcher who had every urge to keep Bonds in check for the whole night...until one bad pitch changed history. And that one bad pitch raised enough eyebrows the whole world over.

I still can't believe it. Really, after all this time, I don't think anyone else can believe it either.