Barry "Boo Hoo" Bonds

ESPN ran an article today, boo-hoo Barry, outlining Bonds uncertainty in playing at all this season, stating he was, "Mentally and physically done." While this might not sound unreasonable coming from a 40 yr old baseball player, he went on to actually blame the media saying, "I'm tired of my kids crying. You wanted me to jump off a bridge, I finally did. You finally brought me and my family down....So now go pick a different person." Now from a Padre standpoint the possibility of missing an entire season of watching Bonds catapulting HRs out of Petco can only mean good things for the Friars. Barry has killed us throughout his career, and at some point it needs to end. But as some of us actually may have started to enjoy this onslaught as being able to view firsthand one of the greatest players ever, it's time that Barry just shuts his mouth and crawls off somewhere. I just can't take it anymore. Forget the fact that the media likes to jab him a little, thanks in part to his general dislike and 'surliness' he's had for them during his career. There have been plenty of other players who had disdain for reporters in the past, and there will be plenty more to come. But he just doesn't seem to get the fact that when you approach baseball's 'hallowed' records, the ones that people will debate for generations, people WANT to be in awe of you. So is it really so hard to understand that when a man takes what would have already been a HOF career at age 36 and ROCKETS it into superhuman status, writers and fans merely want to find out HOW? Problem is, Barry knew 'exactly' how it happened, and therein lies the problem for a man who seems to have no conscious about cheating the game he claims to love. Let's chronicle the 'metamorphosis...'

Through 1998, Bonds' 13th year in the bigs, he averaged 153 games a year in seasons he started and were not strike years.(94) In 92, his last year for the Pirates, he topped 1.000 ops for the first time, and over the next eight years averaged 1.046. Mind you, this is a 'Herculean' accomplishment reserved for only the finest sluggers to ever play the game. He finally slowed down in 1999, suffering a significant injury and only playing 102 games. At the time he had 445 career HRs, and was 35 years old. Barry could have retired at that point, and would have been a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee.

As many people have pointed out recently, the advantage of using steroids in baseball is probably less related to strength, and more related to recuperation and endurance. Here is where Bonds excelled during the past five seasons. His physique became enormous, face bloated, body carved of granite. He and his trainer accredited that to a new weight regime, and just lots of hard work. We now know differently, but let's look at his numbers during that stretch. Coming off the 99 injury year, at 36 he posted nearly his best OPS to date, 1.128. He hit 49 HRs, a career high. In just 143 games. In 2001 he belted 73 bombs, putting McGwire's 70 on the backburner. His 1.378 OPS was up there with the greatest single seasons of all time. In the next three years the HRs were fewer, but the ridiculous on-base and slugging averages remained in the stratosphere, peaking last season at 1.421. Mind you, only about 10 players a year even crack 1.000.

So as Barry nears Babe Ruth's mark of 714, and with Hank's untouchable total of 755 not far off, it's time to finally ask the question of whether anyone really cares anymore. Because so much of it in recent times seems fraudulent now. A man constantly mentioned in the same breath as Mays, Aaron & Ruth is not only a cheat, but blames the fallout on everyone but himself. I was looking quite forward to booing Barry in the first SF series this April, only to bite my toungue and tip my cap as he launches one into the 'park.' But I've had enough. Go away Barry.