Bonds' legacy

So word has been floating around the Giants spring training facility for a week that rehab on Barry Bonds’ knee injury isn’t progressing up to his or the team’s liking after undergoing his second surgery since January. Yesterday, Barry came out and whined to reporters, as he is want to do, after a workout session, speculating that he could be gone from the lineup until midseason or even NEXT season because of the injury. But the injury is just the tip of the iceberg.

Bonds also complained that he is “physically and mentally drained” and “tired” from the constant harassment by the media this off-season. "I'm tired of my kids crying. You wanted me to jump off a bridge, I finally did," Bonds said on Tuesday. "You finally brought me and my family down."

Of course, these should be heady times for Mr. Bonds, with Hammerin’ Hank Aaron’s career home run record within sight and Babe Ruth’s 714 career dingers just 11 away. But Bonds has been plagued this winter by repeated questions about his use of illegal steroids including leaked Grand Jury testimony and culminating in his conspicuous absence from the Senate hearings last week. Apparently Bonds could take it no more: “You guys wanted to hurt me bad enough,” he told reporters, “you finally got me.”

My thoughts on this matter are multi-fold. First, a few things you should know: I’ve never been a huge Barry fan, as he comes across as gruff, unlikable and with a sizable racially motivated chip on his shoulder. It’s one thing to acknowledge the obvious pitfalls that can befall a successful black athlete; it is quite another to berate your fans and employers and charge the media with racial bias. Also, he never really seemed to enjoy the attention that comes from the success he has had, even though he MUST have known what was waiting for him (his dad Bobby was pretty successful in his day too). It’s one thing to be a private person, but another, as I said, to be prickly and standoffish to your fans and the media, many of whom, I can say from personal experience, were looking for a good reason to root for Barry during his record-breaking season in 2002.

Anywho, I’m not much of an instigator, but I have to believe that Barry isn’t being completely candid with the media he so despises. Is it possible that the slugger is hiding behind this injury to a certain extent, giving himself an ‘out’ because his game isn’t up to snuff? Has his “alleged” steroid use left his aging body unable to cope with injuries on its own? Does Barry think that he can simply walk away from the game now, after racing to the precipice of breaking baseball’s greatest career record, and not have his image be tarnished? And would it actually be good for the game of baseball for him to do just that? Most importantly, if I keep asking loaded questions, does it count as actually making a point?

I write this now without having inundated my pliant mind with the cacophony of press and opinions that no doubt have been expressed in the sports pages and message boards around the country. I think ima go do that now. But in the meantime, I’m glad to have been able add my own nattering to the din, the gyst of which is this: By playing the victim, by using his feelings and his family as a shield, by denying himself the opportunity to live up to his own hype and prove to the world how good a player he is without speculation of steroid use, Barry Bonds has shown himself to be the basest of cowards. Maybe baseball would be better off if Barry retired and never bested the marks of Ruth and Aaron. But the fact that he has gotten this close to eclipsing the all-time home run greats and could just walk away with a resounding “fuck you” to the media and with no accountability to his previous actions is shameful. And yet somehow, if this is indeed how it all shakes out, this final act of cowardice may prove to be the most fitting legacy for Bonds after all.