Barry Bonds Takes A Spanking From A Former Player With Class
Apparently, some people are not taking the breaking of Hank Aaron's homerun record by Barry "Asterisk" Bonds with a grain of salt, as I am. In the whole big scheme of things, I find this much more offensive to baseball than Pete Rose's betting scandal. At least Pete Rose did break the hitting record with no trainer in jail for giving him illegal substances, even if he did bet on the game. But some more hardcore fans, former players, that is, are not so happy about the "record-breaking" home run.
Enter Dale Murphy, two-time MVP and all around class-act ball player. From the looks of
this story, Dale Murphy called a radio station in Salt Lake City, Utah, and gave Barry a well-deserved verbal spanking.
"[Bonds] would have become one of the great ones, anyway. Now, he sucked the fun and the life right out of it. There is enough evidence to me to say without a doubt that he used performance-enhancing drugs. He hit 73 home runs when he was 37. Hank would have hit 855 if he had the same advantage."
As is consistent with his clean-cut image, Mr. Murphy sticks to sound logic when coming to the conclusion that Bonds definitely had "help" in defeating the record. He concedes that Bonds would have been "one of the great ones", but then points out that the evidence rendered so far, such as "hit(ting) 73 home runs when he was 37", as his basis for his conclusion.
"Barry's a great player, but he put an asterisk by his name on his own. He's deserved all the negative publicity that he's getting. People have been complaining that he's being treated unfairly. Life isn't usually like that. You don't just get treated unfairly. You usually get what you deserve. "
Mr. Murphy has spoken a universal truth that those with a victim mentality and with no faith in God can grasp; that people usually get what they deserve, and that his troubles were brought on by himself.
"This is what Barry deserves. He's a hard guy to like. He's a hard teammate to have. He's set a terrible example for our kids. "
This is always what set Dale Murphy apart. I can remember growing up, and every kid wanted to be Dale Murphy, just like every kid now wants to be Barry Bonds. But Dale Murphy knew this. He always took bad calls in stride, rarely arguing calls with the umpires. He never used profanity on the field. He never lost his cool. He knew that children were watching, but he also knew that he was only human, and that he had to watch his actions and words closely because he was influency a lot of children. Barry Bonds is a thug in comparison, much more akin to the NBA mentality.
"That's what you say to your kids. You say, 'This is what happens when you take steroids. Your dad doesn't want to watch this, because it's drug abuse.'
And this quote is some good sound advice to parents when addressing the Bonds issue.
As for me, I could really care less, because history will not be good to Bonds in my opinion. We still here about the "Black Sox scandal" of 1919, and "Shoeless Joe" Jackson. Despite the caliber player Jackson may have been in his time, that is far more overshadowed by the scandal.
Barry Bonds may never get the asterisk. But baseball fans and historians don't forget.
Enter Dale Murphy, two-time MVP and all around class-act ball player. From the looks of
this story, Dale Murphy called a radio station in Salt Lake City, Utah, and gave Barry a well-deserved verbal spanking.
"[Bonds] would have become one of the great ones, anyway. Now, he sucked the fun and the life right out of it. There is enough evidence to me to say without a doubt that he used performance-enhancing drugs. He hit 73 home runs when he was 37. Hank would have hit 855 if he had the same advantage."
As is consistent with his clean-cut image, Mr. Murphy sticks to sound logic when coming to the conclusion that Bonds definitely had "help" in defeating the record. He concedes that Bonds would have been "one of the great ones", but then points out that the evidence rendered so far, such as "hit(ting) 73 home runs when he was 37", as his basis for his conclusion.
"Barry's a great player, but he put an asterisk by his name on his own. He's deserved all the negative publicity that he's getting. People have been complaining that he's being treated unfairly. Life isn't usually like that. You don't just get treated unfairly. You usually get what you deserve. "
Mr. Murphy has spoken a universal truth that those with a victim mentality and with no faith in God can grasp; that people usually get what they deserve, and that his troubles were brought on by himself.
"This is what Barry deserves. He's a hard guy to like. He's a hard teammate to have. He's set a terrible example for our kids. "
This is always what set Dale Murphy apart. I can remember growing up, and every kid wanted to be Dale Murphy, just like every kid now wants to be Barry Bonds. But Dale Murphy knew this. He always took bad calls in stride, rarely arguing calls with the umpires. He never used profanity on the field. He never lost his cool. He knew that children were watching, but he also knew that he was only human, and that he had to watch his actions and words closely because he was influency a lot of children. Barry Bonds is a thug in comparison, much more akin to the NBA mentality.
"That's what you say to your kids. You say, 'This is what happens when you take steroids. Your dad doesn't want to watch this, because it's drug abuse.'
And this quote is some good sound advice to parents when addressing the Bonds issue.
As for me, I could really care less, because history will not be good to Bonds in my opinion. We still here about the "Black Sox scandal" of 1919, and "Shoeless Joe" Jackson. Despite the caliber player Jackson may have been in his time, that is far more overshadowed by the scandal.
Barry Bonds may never get the asterisk. But baseball fans and historians don't forget.
posted by Badbeans | 4:07 PM
1 Comments:
I remember the days of 'Ol Dale in the outfield. That was the team of my youth. Bob Horner, Glenn Hubbard, Chris Chamblis, Raphael Ramirez, Claudel Washington.....Ahhh yeah. Those were the days. Baseball still had magic. Baseball players still had class and respect.
Those days are gone. Bonds is just one of many that have dragged America's favorite passtime down into the gutter. Professional baseball has always been a business. But it has also been so much more. It has been inspriational, influential, entertaining, fun and family oriented. Now.....a business is all that it is. Endorsements, advertisements, salary negotiations, strikes and scandals.
One of the very talented authors of another blog I frequently read, File It Under, made the suggestion that the pitcher throw the most ridiculous, underhanded, rainbow meatball pitches he could and let Barry smash it over the fence...as if to say, "You don't deserve the record, and you don't deserve my best effort." A hollow victory.
But alas it didn't happen.
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