Keyboard Quarterbacks

By Mark La Monica

Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of people will write in their newspaper game stories and columns, or on their Web sites or blogs, about Barry Bonds and his 756th career home run, hit moments before midnight (EDT) on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 off Nationals starter Mike Bacsik.

Very few of those written pieces outside the Bay Area, be it by professional journalists or civilians, will say something this effect: I am happy for Barry Bonds. (I am in New York, by the way.)

That is correct.

I am happy for Barry Bonds. Props to the San Francisco slugger for reaching a place no other American has even reached. That must be an incredible feeling. To be the sole holder of what just may be the greatest record in American sports. Bold.

In past writings, I've supported Barry Bonds through all the steroid and performance-enhancing drug allegations. Did he do it knowingly? Maybe. Maybe not. "Knowingly" being the keyword here, since he admitted ingesting stuff to a grand jury, according to leaked testimony.

I read "Game of Shadows." It's rather damning. But to pull a Bud Selig and turn my back on Bonds now wouldn't be fair. Not without more concrete proof. Plus, let's not forget that using performance-enhancing drugs was not against the rules of baseball until a few seasons ago.

The man is a great player. Always has been. A guaranteed Hall of Famer well before that bottle of andro was found in Mark McGwire's locker in 1998 and set off an amazing chain reaction across baseball. He could do it all on the baseball field, unlike any other player of his generation -- and most other generations. There is no denying his talent.

He's a polarizing figure, no doubt. A man capable of charming you with his personality and smile. A man capable of making you cringe with some of the reports about his actions in the clubhouse. Which is true? We don't know. Probably both.

When two reporters at the postgame press conference asked questions about "tainted" records and what would Bonds say to Greg Anderson if he were here, Bonds deftly worked around them. As well he should have.

This was not a night to kill Bonds. Hasn't that been done every day for the past three years already? And most likely the next three? What did they expect him to say? "Uh, yeah, I took roids and thankfully Greg Anderson hasn't said anything about it."

Those questions don't need to be asked. They've been asked 400 times day for the past three years. You're not going to get a juicy soundbyte out of that, or a good quote to stick in the paper, so don't waste the time. Or phrase the question to be less transparent.

Or, just give the man the credit he deserves for being an amazing ballplayer. No one has swung a bat and connected for a home run more times than Bonds.

What Bonds did or did not do, we'll never know. Ain't like he was going to touch home plate, hug his family, grab the mike and say, "Gotcha, suckas! I'm more juiced than Tropicana!"

But, if you can remove yourself from the groupthink mentality surrounding Bonds' presumed guilt -- clearly, Bug Selig doesn't have the moral strength to think for himself -- you will see that Bonds is among the five best baseball players ever. Think about all the players you've seen play in your lifetime. Then think about all the players your father has seen in his lifetime. Then think about all the players your grandfather has seen in his lifetime.

And Bonds is among the five best. And now he's the best home run hitter of all-time. That didn't happen solely because he may or may not have altered his physique through unnatural chemical means. Alex Sanchez was the first to come up dirty in MLB testing. How many career home runs does he have? Six! Matt Lawton? He hit 138 career bombs.

Neifi Perez is one suspension shy of qualifying as a Chris Rock's stunt double for "New Jack City." Yeah, he was hitting .172 when he got booted again.

Of course, there's the Rafael Palmeiro scenario, which is so muddy a water that no one knows what numbers to believe.

I stood and cheered for Bonds at Shea Stadium last season when everyone else booed. In the end, I may be proven wrong, but at least I had the courage to not jump on the Bash Barry Bandwagon just because everyone else already had a ticket to ride.

So, props to Bonds on hitting No. 756. And props on No. 757, 758 and however many he hits, provided George Mitchell's investigation proves as ineffective as it appears to be right now.