Barry Bonds Ties Babe Ruth
714th Homerun for San Francisco Giants doesn't impress major league baseball fans.
Barry Bonds may have tied Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time home run list, but Major League Baseball fans are not celebrating.
There was an eerie silence across Major League Baseball when Barry Bonds hit his 714th home run, tying Babe Ruth for second all time, last week.
The MLB media has spent so much time commenting on Bonds' pursuit of Ruth that the average baseball fan has had enough. One popular ESPN analyst recently suggested that baseball and its fans missed a great opportunity to celebrate Bonds' mark, calling it a historic achievement that deserves celebrating.
Yet the world of sports remains uncommonly quiet, in the aftermath of Bond's latest feat.
The reason people are ignoring Barry Bonds and home run 714 is because the mark is more notorious than historic. Sports fans scrutinize everything their heroes do, and apparently they've had it with Bonds' antics.
Ten years ago, when Bonds was a slender and sinewy 190-pound gazelle, gliding gracefully across the outfield, and slugging homers at a more reasonable 29 per season, baseball fans took note. They even celebrated Bonds' heroics and his MVP trophies. Bonds back then, was worth celebrating.
Bonds hit for average, he hit for power; he stole bases with the aplomb off even the proudest thief. Surefire doubles, driven into the alley, suffered miserable deaths in Bonds' merciless mitt. A decade or more ago, Barry Bonds was the baseball idol that every boy dreamed of being.
Many summers and fifty steroid-drenched pounds later, Bonds and his iconic mystique changed, as quickly as his did his physique.
Stolen bases and diving catches began to vanish. Doubles and triples also dwindled for Bonds. He became all about home runs. Season records and all-time marks were what mattered.
And as Bonds' home runs increased, the fickle fans began to turn away, searching for the purity of America's pastime.
There's no room in the hearts of baseball fans for cheaters and liars, and Barry Bonds is both. Even if he becomes Baseball's all-time home run king, it is likely that fans won't notice.
The world of baseball will remain silent, waiting for a new hero and a legitimate record it can celebrate.
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