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Bond's Churlishness No SurpriseNo Huge Outcry Over Bonds' Refusal of Hall of FameBarry Bonds' refusal to turn over mementoes to baseball's Hall of Fame should come as no surprise, as he's only following his own track record.
There’s hasn’t been much of an uproar over Barry Bonds’ refusal to share mementoes with baseball’s Hall of Fame. That’s because his patented, churlish behavior doesn’t surprise anyone. Just 10 homeruns shy of breaking Hank Aaron’s career homerun record, word emerged last week that Bonds hasn’t shared anything with the HOF of late, including mementoes associated with tying and breaking Babe Ruth’s long-time career homerun record. Instead, Bonds is stockpiling the artifacts in a warehouse. Ho-hum. What else is new? To paraphrase a saying popularized in Boston, Barry is just being Barry. Boorish. Selfish. Self-centered. Even sans steroids Bonds is one of the most gifted – and perhaps the most well rounded – ballplayer of his generation. It’s a shame his march toward Aaron’s record of 755 career homeruns is tainted, leaving the powers that be stupefied as to how to approach Bonds’ assault on Aaron’s mark. But it’s Barry’s own doing. Grotesquely bulked-up, looking like a black version of the Michelin Man, Bonds continues to attribute his burgeoning physique to his use of flaxseed oil and arthritic balm. Looking Our for Number OneUh-huh. Asked about his recalcitrance in providing the HOF with record setting-related artifacts, Bonds’ magnanimous response was, “I'm not worried about the Hall. I take care of me.' He made his remarks in a press conference. But that’s very clear. It’s a matter of public record that Master Barry has simply been out for No. 1 since he was a kid. “He’s always been that way,” said Ryan Rees, former sports editor of the Daily Tribune News of Cartersville, Ga. “I remember covering him in high school, and he was the same, snotty person then as he is now.” Maybe that’s why there’s been no uproar over Bonds’ most recent comments. Few syndicated columnists have scored Bonds. One even defended his decision not to donate mementoes to the HOF, pointing out that there is no contractual connection between MLB and the Hall, and that the HOF charges adults about $15 a pop to tour the facility. Perhaps he should take a lesson from rookie Rockies infielder Troy Tulowitzki who, after pulling off the 13th unassisted triple play in Major League Baseball history, turned the ball over to his team. "A lot more people will have a chance to see if than if I kept it for myself,' he declared. Voices in the WildernessOn the national level, HOF sports columnist Tracy Ringgold slammed Bonds, while ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski recently interviewed the former U.S. prosecutor who ran the case against the firm that apparently provided Bonds with the steroids that blew him up like a bloated helium balloon. Ringgold rightly noted that the baseball jerseys, balls and bats Bonds is hoarding actually belong to his employer, the San Francisco Giants, and has called for the team to force Bonds’ hand in supplying the HOF with artifacts involved with his 714th and 715th homeruns (when he tied and broke Babe Ruth’s records), as well as his decimation of Mark McGuire’s 70-homerun single-season mark. Although Wojciechowski reported last week that Kevin Ryan was circumspect, Ryan did make a couple of telling comments, according to the senior ESPN writer. "I think [the facts] will [come] out,” said Ryan. “It's not going to be a pretty process. I don't think it's been pretty to this point. But I do think that at the end of the day we will all know the story." Remarked Ryan, “To me you got a problem, let’s deal with it. If you’ve got a cancer you cut it out … let’s rid this sport … of the cancer, treat it, and move on.” Sticking One's Head in the SandCertainly MLB Commissioner Bud Selig would love the whole matter to go away. Yet, with Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, silently sitting in a prison cell (Hmmmm…), and with the federal grand jury dithering about whether or not to indict Bonds for perjury (flaxseed oil and arthritic balm), it looks as though nothing will impede Bonds in his march toward tainted immortality. Eventually, he’ll break the squeaky clean Aaron’s hard-earned career homerun mark. Shock jock Howard Stern may very well have offered the best solution to MLB’s dilemma. “I think Barry should take more juice,” pontificated Stern. “What the hell? Nobody likes him anyway, so he should really bulk up, juice until his head explodes. Maybe people will like watching how he blasts the ball then. More juice. It’s his only hope.” Perhaps.
The copyright of the article Bond's Churlishness No Surprise in Major League Baseball is owned by Jerry M. Gutlon. Permission to republish Bond's Churlishness No Surprise in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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