Such Arrogance Barry

[ChrisSportsFan]

Originally Posted by gordon30307

It's reported that Barry Bonds will boycott the Hall Of Fame if his HR record has an asterisk. Someone tell him he first has to be elected.

I saw that as well and I won't lose any sleep if he's not in there. He still has 2 months to find out if he's elected to the state penn.

[greymule]

Reminds me of Huckleberry Finn's father: "I'da voted myself if I warn't too drunk to get there!"

[JRutledge]

Who cares? This is years away and he has a right to feel that way.

Peace

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Who cares? This is years away and he has a right to feel that way.

Peace

I agree 100%. I would be pissed if they put a friggin asterisk on my HR record that I spent years breaking. Nobody is going to convict Bonds for anything folks, so just get that out of your heads now. Hundreds of MLB players use steroids, including many pitchers who Barry Bonds hit home runs off. Are we going to see asterisks on every one of those? I think not, so get over the fact that Barry clobbered more home runs than Aaron and everyone's golden boy Ruth.

Steroids or not, it takes a whole lot of talent to even hit a baseball, much less hit it out of stadiums against major league pitching. Steroids don't make that much difference when it comes to the hand/eye coordination and other batting skills.

[gordon30307]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

I agree 100%. I would be pissed if they put a friggin asterisk on my HR record that I spent years breaking. Nobody is going to convict Bonds for anything folks, so just get that out of your heads now. Hundreds of MLB players use steroids, including many pitchers who Barry Bonds hit home runs off. Are we going to see asterisks on every one of those? I think not, so get over the fact that Barry clobbered more home runs than Aaron and everyone's golden boy Ruth.

Steroids or not, it takes a whole lot of talent to even hit a baseball, much less hit it out of stadiums against major league pitching. Steroids don't make that much difference when it comes to the hand/eye coordination and other batting skills.

Hand eye coordination you either have it or you don't I agree. However, generally speaking, your stats don't improve as you age nor does your reaction time. I don't know if this is true or not but I heard that steroids improve your vision. Barry was a Hall of Famer before he started cheating.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by gordon30307

I don't know if this is true or not but I heard that steroids improve your vision.

But they shrink your balls, so I guess the trade-off is worth it to some people.

Originally Posted by gordon30307

Barry was a Hall of Famer before he started cheating.

Despite the build-up of circumstantial evidence to support this claim, he has not been convicted, nor has he ever tested positive for steroids, so it is still unproven that he cheated.

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

nor has he ever tested positive for steroids,

That may or may not be true.

What is true is that he has never tested positive for steriods as far as the public knows.

Results of steriord tests in the past were not always made public as they have been recently.

[gordon30307]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

But they shrink your balls, so I guess the trade-off is worth it to some people.



Despite the build-up of circumstantial evidence to support this claim, he has not been convicted, nor has he ever tested positive for steroids, so it is still unproven that he cheated.

We know he took steroids (he says he took it unknowingly) the clear. He claims he was told it was flax seed oil. What could a drop of flax seed oil under the tongue do for you! You're naive if you beleive he never knowingly took steroids human growth or whatever. The preponderance of evidence suggests he cheated.

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Steroids or not, it takes a whole lot of talent to even hit a baseball, much less hit it out of stadiums against major league pitching. Steroids don't make that much difference when it comes to the hand/eye coordination and other batting skills.

Agree that it aint easy to hit a baseball.

What's even harder is to keep hitting a baseball for distance after an age where that ability is *normally* reduced.

Besides increased strength (hitting the ball over the wall instead of to the warning track) I understand that some steroids actually improve vision in some cases, or at least reduce vision loss due to aging. There's your hand/eye connection.

Is this true in Bonds' case? Who knows...but his record does show an increase in HR output at a point where most players start to seriously consider retirement.

edit oops, repeating Gordon. That's 2 votes at least

[ChrisSportsFan]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

I agree 100%. I would be pissed if they put a friggin asterisk on my HR record that I spent years breaking. Nobody is going to convict Bonds for anything folks, so just get that out of your heads now. Hundreds of MLB players use steroids, including many pitchers who Barry Bonds hit home runs off. Are we going to see asterisks on every one of those? I think not, so get over the fact that Barry clobbered more home runs than Aaron and everyone's golden boy Ruth.

Steroids or not, it takes a whole lot of talent to even hit a baseball, much less hit it out of stadiums against major league pitching. Steroids don't make that much difference when it comes to the hand/eye coordination and other batting skills.

Do you really think most people who are in the "asterix bucket" are there because they don't want Barry to break a record set by Aaron or Ruth? Or do you think they are there becasue they are anti-cheaters? I know he has not been proven guilty of knowingly cheating and to that I call BS.

[WhistlesAndStripes]

The fact that Barry said he would boycott the Hall if the ball is displayed with an asterisk as all the more reason to brand it on all sides with asterisks. Keep him out of a place that he doesn't deserve to be in since he cheated.

As long as Pete Rose is banned, they should never induct another player!!

[BigUmp56]

I wonder if everyone will say the same thing about Clemens and others when it's their turn to go into The Hall. It was an entire era of steroid use. The truth is we still have no idea about how widespread of a problem it was. I don't buy for a second that MLB itself wasn't aware of the problem as they tried to put the fans back in the stands, post strike of 1994. They wanted to see the ball flying out of the parks, and turned a blind eye to steroid usage. The pitchers were juicing, the hitters were juicing. Hell, I think even the bat boys were on the stuff..........


Tim.

[Steven Tyler]

Originally Posted by Whistles & Stripes

The fact that Barry said he would boycott the Hall if the ball is displayed with an asterisk as all the more reason to brand it on all sides with asterisks. Keep him out of a place that he doesn't deserve to be in since he cheated.

As long as Pete Rose is banned, they should never induct another player!!

As long as you brought it up. Pete Rose is another case of such arrogance.

Pete Rose brought his banishment upon himself. Why rewrite the rules for Mr. I Thought I Was Teflon. This is one of the few things that baseball got right.

As for Barry, he needs to remember that a certain percentage of votes from a panel of voters that generally stay the same through the years have to elect him for enshrinement into the Hall. If 2007 was his last year, he still has five years to piss off voters, or to be found guilty of cheating. Remember Marion Jones of Olympic fame? Players like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Juan Gonzalez (and probably others too countless to mention) who in different eras had lead pipe Hall of Fame careers, might never see it in their lifetime, if ever at all.

Baseball doesn't need Bonds as bad as he needs baseball. The Hall of Fame will certainly not suffer one bit without him. His statements will only come back to haunt him in the future if he continues to make such stupid remarks.

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by Whistles & Stripes

As long as Pete Rose is banned, they should never induct another player!!

Look everybody....RAW MEAT!

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

I agree 100%. I would be pissed if they put a friggin asterisk on my HR record that I spent years breaking. Nobody is going to convict Bonds for anything folks, so just get that out of your heads now. Hundreds of MLB players use steroids, including many pitchers who Barry Bonds hit home runs off. Are we going to see asterisks on every one of those? I think not, so get over the fact that Barry clobbered more home runs than Aaron and everyone's golden boy Ruth.

Steroids or not, it takes a whole lot of talent to even hit a baseball, much less hit it out of stadiums against major league pitching. Steroids don't make that much difference when it comes to the hand/eye coordination and other batting skills.

I agree with you 100%!

Although I personally believe that Bonds used steroids, I don't believe an asterisk should be placed on his achievement. Baseball has always had "eras." As baseball moves on, this will simply be known as the Steroid Era and everybody will recognize it as that - without the need for any silly asterisks. Bonds' achievement will be seen for what it is and each individual can ascribe to this achievement whatever they desire.

Sure - it takes skill to hit homeruns, whether you're on steroids or not. If I started pumping up on steroids, I couldn't hit a major league fastball out of the park, not to mention even hit it at all. I think there are many major league hitters who, given the benefit of steroids, would never come close to achieving what Bonds has achieved. Yet, it has to be assumed that many of Bonds' homeruns would have been nothing more than long flyballs had steroids not been involved.

I say, let him have his record and allow individuals to take it for what it's worth.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN