Wheeler on Bonds
Rather than talk about is he juiced or not, asterisk or not, fair or not… I would like to compare last night’s moments with what I still consider the top moment of my baseball watching era (1990-present (i was 10 years old the year Cecil Fielder hit 51 HRs and that is my earliest real baseball memory): Cal Ripken setting the all-time consecutive games streak in September of 1995.
In ‘95, not only was the commish on hand, but so was the President and Vice President of the United States.Last night, Pedro Gomez was on hand. Seriously, the commish wasn’t there, his predecessor wasn’t there, Senator George Mitchell wasn’t there, and the president certainly wasn’t there. Heck, the Govanator Arnold Schwarzenegger was at Beckham’s debut, but didn’t make the trek to see this…
In ‘95 I watched Cal’s entire game, including an unprecedented and still unmatched 22 minute standing ovation.His trot around the stadium with an ear-to-ear grin is timeless… The game is STILL the highest rated Baseball game ever shown on the ESPN networks (including last night’s game). Last night, i went to sleep after watching his second at bat, and really i only watched that at bat cause i knew he was guaranteed to get to the plate in that inning. After a nice single, i slumped off to bed, not really caring if i missed anything.
So, i’m glad its over. I’m not an anti-Bonds guy, the whole thing just seems tainted and trite.Think about how you look at the 98 season when McGwire and Sosa had the famous chase for 61. We were all glued to our sets and absolutely soaked in every home run. The grumblings about roids were there, but no one cared enough to make a big deal about it. Baseball was back. McGwire finished with 70, Sosa with 66 and Bonds with an outstanding 37 home runs — But cut bonds some slack, cause he was only 33 and obviously not in the peak of his career. We all know how the majority of baseball players don’t hit their stride until their late 30s *cough*sarcasm*cough*.
Now, i look back at that time and i think of what a fraudulent year that was. I’m still a huge McGwire fan and think he’s gotten the worst treatment in all of this, unfairly so, but I can look at the latter part of his career and see that it was fraudulent.
That’s pretty much how i feel about this record, and even though i’m not a huge A-Rod fan, i’m pulling for him to stay healthy.
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