Major League Baseball Barry Bonds Indictment And Jim Thome

The 2006 Major League Baseball season has Barry Bonds, Jim Thome, Tom Glavine and Manny Ramirez, among others, to thank for history and excitement.

The pending indictment of Barry Bonds is one of just a few bright spots in the 2006 Major League Baseball season. Bonds' indictment could bring closure to what has become a huge albatross around the neck of Major League Baseball. With other exciting aspects to the season, it's time to get Bonds and his antics out of the way and replace the uproar that surrounds him with more interesting events:

For the first time in nearly 30 Major League Baseball seasons, there was not a single save on July 15. This is one more in a long line of unseemly events that include the potential fall of the Yankees and the Braves, at the same time.

White Sox slugger Jim Thome continues to be one of Major League Baseball's most underrated feel-good stories. After being run out of Philadelphia for one injury-riddled season, Thome has been reborn in the windy city and has made the 2005 World Series champs a serious threat to repeat.

At the halfway point of the 2006 MLB season, Thome checked in with 31 homers, a .304 average and 79 runs batted in. Unlike the Bonds and Jason Giambis of the baseball world, Thome is a clean, down-to-earth guy, who is easy to embrace. Here's hoping Jim Thome slugs 60-plus home runs this season.

Major League Baseball's least exciting event brought yet another media frenzy when 10-time All-Star Manny Ramirez decided to stay home. Only Major League Baseball could make such a huge story out of a non-story.

Who would have ever expected Major League Baseball to become the "old-folks league?" With baby stars cropping up in every city, it's especially thrilling for me to see my own contemporaries having great seasons. Tom Glavine, Curt Schilling, and Roger Clemens are all having tremendous years, defying Father Time.

There may be hope for me yet.

Meanwhile, I'll just stay tuned to one of the most exciting baseball seasons in decades.