The Hypocrisy of the Barry Bonds Steroids Witch Hunt
While some people would love to heap more praise on Barry Bonds for his latest feats especially when considering how many people were ready to bury him for his poor first half performance others will be calling out “Steroids!” once again. You can count me firmly in the former category. While I do personally believe that Barry Bonds has used performance enhancing drugs it is also quite clear that he is only one of many. It seems to me that Barry Bonds greatest crime is not that he is one of the many major league baseball players that has used performance enhancing drugs but that he has been so much better than everyone else while doing them.
Prior to the steroids era Barry Bonds was one of the greatest players in baseball history. He won three MVP awards in the 90s and by many accounts should have won five. Starting with his amazing 2001 season Barry Bonds was unparalleled not only amongst his peers but among all of the players in the history of baseball. His production was so outstanding during this period that his only competition was not from Albert Pujols or any of the other great players of these times but from Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. They are the only players in the history of baseball who have put up numbers anything like Barry Bonds 2001 through 2004. Accordingly he won all four MVP awards during those seasons and it’s really a crime that he was not the unanimous winner on each occasion because there was no one else who deserved a single vote over him. He was that much better than everyone else.
It is now well known that many major league players have been using illegal performance enhancing drugs during this period including many pitchers. My question is why has Barry Bonds been the focus? Not only of fans’ hate but of a federal investigation that seems to be completely ignoring the fact that steroids have been a league wide problem and instead is focusing on one single player. Shouldn’t the crime be the use of the drugs and not being ridiculously good?
Another question: Why has no other player been able to put up the numbers that Barry Bonds put up from 2001 to 2005? The answer is simple. No one else is as good as he is. Steroids or not. Barry Bonds is the greatest hitter in the history of baseball.
Another point : If steroids make you so great then why are these players nothing to write home about? Alex Sanchez, Jorge Piedra, Agustin Montero, Jamal Strong, Juan Rincon, Rafael Betancourt, Ryan Franklin, Mike Morse, Carlos Almanzar, Felix Heredia, Matt Lewton, Yusaku Iriki, and Jason Grimsley. Not exactly a list of hall of famers. What is this list you may ask? A list of players who have actually been suspended from baseball for illegal steroid use. These players are from teams whose same fans boo Bonds mercilessly when he’s in town.
Finally, my favorite point in the whole hypocrisy of the Barry Bonds witch hunt deal, The New York Yankees fans.
The Yankees are that team with Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield both of whom are just as obvious users of performance enhancing drugs as Barry Bonds (Giambi of course even admitted to his use.) Giambi and Sheffield are two of the best hitters in the Yankees ridiculously star studded lineup (oh the things that money can buy youâÂ?¦) so why is it I hear Yankees fans saying things like Barry Bonds should be kicked out of the league? How hypocritical can you get? How can people say things like this and think it makes any sort of logical sense? The reason is people don’t think, they react. They let emotions take the place of thinking.
