After a scintillating hot stove season, pitchers and catchers will report to spring training in five weeks. Fans will then see such amazing sights as a clean-shaven Randy Johnson, and a Washington baseball franchise. Once the novelty of the "old faces in new places" wears off, all eyes will turn to one story- Barry Bonds' assault on the all-time home run record held by Henry Aaron.
"Hammerin' Hank." The model of consistency. A man who labored in the shadow of (Bonds' godfather) Willie Mays for two decades, who never hit more than 44 homers in a season. One of MLB's last links to the Negro Leagues. A proud, outspoken man who integrated the majors in the Deep South. Bonds is out to erase his hallowed mark. Unfortunately, the specter of the BALCO grand jury testimonies looms darkly above every National League outfield wall. A happening in which MLB would love to bask, will be tainted.
Our sports networks and late night sportscasters will showcase live remotes of Bonds at bats each step along his pursuit. They will also note the derisive signs and bed sheet banners held by opposing fans: "Clear This Fence, Barry," "Cream the Ball," "Stee-rike One! Stee-rike Two! Stee-roid!" "BALCO Barry," and the like.
There's no way Bud Selig and his minions can paint a pretty face on this one. Sure, there's no retroactive way to prove B2 was juicing when he smashed 73 big flies. Baseball can't erase what he, or any other players did during the power explosion of the late 1990s. When middle infielders morphed from Punch-and-Judy hitters to long ball threats. When once-slender outfielders tagged 50 homers out of the blue, never to approach such numbers again. What's done is done, but The Race (for 756) will be ridiculed.
If healthy, Barry Bonds could surpass 800 homers, and fans, journalists, and former players the world over will wonder How He Did It? People will lobby for a Roger Maris-style asterisk to accompany his name in the record books. Will the president call him to congratulate him on the record? What will Aaron's take be — he'll be asked about it from March until the record is broken (assuming it will be)?
When Roger Maris challenged Babe Ruth's single-season home run mark, many fans objected because Ruth was bigger than baseball, the man who "built" Yankee Stadium, a Hall of Famer in whose class the crecut rightfielder did not belong. Others, particularly Yankee fans, preferred longtime pinstriper Mickey Mantle, Mr. All-American, as the man to break The Bambino's record. When Hank Aaron began to approach Ruth's other hallowed standard — 714 career homers — he received quite a bit of hate mail, even death threats, fans angry that a Black man was supplanting their Babe.
How times change. The 2005 season will see another home run record threatened, yet not with the drama and enthusiasm witnessed during the Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa tag team effort to better Roger Maris in 1998, but with suspicion, criticism, and disapproval.
The irony is that MLB, caught up in the euphoria of the magic summer of '98, which did much to revive fan interest after the strike-shortened 1994, missed an opportunity to implement a policy against steroid/HGH use long before Barry entered the 700 Club.
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