2008 Woodie Awards
Goodbye o the home run king
Bryant Marcia
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Editorials
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It took 33 years for someone to come along and take away Hank Aaron's major league baseball record for most career home runs.
And it took only a few seconds of a televised interview to taint that long coveted and most respected of records.
On Aug. 7, 2007 Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants took his place in history by surpassing Aaron's 755 mark in what was one of the most anticipated moments in baseball history, in all of sports history, for that matter.
Bonds' path to the home run crown was a long and controversial one.
Being born into a baseball royal family, son of baseball legend Bobby Bonds and godson to baseball icon Willie Mays gave the young Bonds a unique perspective and insight into America's favorite pastime.
From early in his career Bonds had a difficult relationship with the media, who oversaw his every swing, word and step.
Bonds quickly became notorious for being a short-tempered interviewee and a selfish teammate.
Many of those sentiments however, lay dormant for years, maybe out of respect for his stature in baseball royalty, maybe because nobody saw it as important to bring up.
That quickly changed in December 2003, when Victor Conte, a defendant in a steroid case against BALCO laboratories testified that he had indeed supplied anabolic steroids to Bonds and many other elite athletes.
That opened the floodgates to the Bonds inquisition and the media's rapidly developing interest in the steroid scandal.
In the 2000 baseball season, Bonds experienced a resurgence tallying a personal record of homeruns, walks and on-base percentage.
Some questioned how a 36 year old had suddenly tapped into a new-found strength and transformed his body, gaining a lot of muscle mass, which was uncharacteristic for Bonds.
At 43, Bonds now has said goodbye to the Giants, the team he called home for 14 years, and which saw his ascent into baseball history.
Most importantly though, is the question of whether Bonds has said goodbye to baseball.
And it took only a few seconds of a televised interview to taint that long coveted and most respected of records.
On Aug. 7, 2007 Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants took his place in history by surpassing Aaron's 755 mark in what was one of the most anticipated moments in baseball history, in all of sports history, for that matter.
Bonds' path to the home run crown was a long and controversial one.
Being born into a baseball royal family, son of baseball legend Bobby Bonds and godson to baseball icon Willie Mays gave the young Bonds a unique perspective and insight into America's favorite pastime.
From early in his career Bonds had a difficult relationship with the media, who oversaw his every swing, word and step.
Bonds quickly became notorious for being a short-tempered interviewee and a selfish teammate.
Many of those sentiments however, lay dormant for years, maybe out of respect for his stature in baseball royalty, maybe because nobody saw it as important to bring up.
That quickly changed in December 2003, when Victor Conte, a defendant in a steroid case against BALCO laboratories testified that he had indeed supplied anabolic steroids to Bonds and many other elite athletes.
That opened the floodgates to the Bonds inquisition and the media's rapidly developing interest in the steroid scandal.
In the 2000 baseball season, Bonds experienced a resurgence tallying a personal record of homeruns, walks and on-base percentage.
Some questioned how a 36 year old had suddenly tapped into a new-found strength and transformed his body, gaining a lot of muscle mass, which was uncharacteristic for Bonds.
At 43, Bonds now has said goodbye to the Giants, the team he called home for 14 years, and which saw his ascent into baseball history.
Most importantly though, is the question of whether Bonds has said goodbye to baseball.
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