If all goes as planned by the time you hold a new issued of The BG News in your hand on Monday, Barry Bonds will have returned from his season-long injury and played in the weekend series versus the Chicago Cubs.
Recently, Bonds told a group of reporters, ‘I just want to go back to San Francisco, play with these guys and give us every chance we have toget to the playoffs.’
And I believe him. Sucker that I am. I have never doubted Bonds sincerity or love for the game. He loves baseball, the occassional teammate and appreciates his fans.
Bonds has spent almost an entire season battling a faulty knee that has required two surgeries and multiple drainings. He has fought his way back into the game just in time for a late-season playoff push for the Giants.
Now here is where the selfish part of me kicks in.
Mr. Bonds, please stay home.
I know I’m being one of those self-righteous hack columnists.
And if I thought that Bonds, who has had his share of icy spots with the media and fans alike, would not do anything to make the situation worse, I would welcome him back.
Unfortunately, with each home run he hits the more contempt will come his way.
As Bonds gets closer and closer to breaking Babe Ruth’s and Hank Aaron’s home run records the more people will hate him.
Yeah, I know that people have accepted Jason Giambi back with open arms, but the two situations are different.
In a way, Giamibi’s partial admission to taking illegal substances helped him in the PR department. He admitted it, hit rock bottom and crawled his way back to respectability. Now he is getting curtain calls in Yankee Stadium.
Because Bonds did not admit anything, people have no sense of closure.
Fans speculate, some consider him a liar, and almost everyone resents that the issue will never be settled. It is like an itch that you try and ignore, but can’t stop scratching.
I also realize that Bonds has not been convicted of anything or been suspended in violation of MLB’s steroid policy. But other players have been found guilty, and Bonds suffers from guilt by association.
Every time a high-profile player gets busted, the rope around Bonds’ neck tightens. If another Raphael Palmiero-type player gets busted Bonds will be hated that much more.
And by the time home run number 756 comes it will be the one record breaking moment no one wishes they were there to see.
