It's All About Perspective
I'm kind of torn on the whole should we or shouldn't we celebrate when Barry Bonds passes Babe Ruth on the home run totals ladder. You think about all of the stories and innuendo that is swirling around this one person right now and it must be an insane way to live a life. Throw in all of the media there to cover the whole thing and it's a zoo of microphones and portable spotlights.
When I first heard the news stories about how Major League Baseball wasn't going to do the "special marked ball" thing that they do around records like this and that the Commisioner made a statement saying that he would not be at the games to congratulate Bonds, I kind of felt like this was just a way for MLB to continue a hands off approach when it comes to the topic of this man. It probably would be a little suspect to have a little moment of handshakes and photo-ops only to have an inditment for perjury come down the next day. The ownership side of baseball is giving this story a wide bearth to avoid getting any of it's assorted messes on their own nice suits.
After a little bit of thought, my feelings changed to something a little more understanding of what the MLB is thinking. When he passes Babe Ruth, that will place Barry Bonds at #2 in all time home run totals. There doesn't tend to be a very big hullabaloo when it comes to someone moving up to second place. I've heard the arguements about how much of a name "Babe Ruth" is to people and how that name and persona is kind of synominous in people's minds with baseball. History and name recognition of the combatants aside, all that is happening is two rungs on the ladder of home run immortality are being switched. Bonds hasn't reached the top rung and it's starting to look like he won't make it to the top, but there will still be Hank Aaron at the top and looking down at everyone in baseball below him. Barry Bonds included.
This is one of those odd discussions that can go either way. If you look from one end of the telescope, the view is similar but different than when you checked out the same thing from the other end. On the one hand you have this player reaching a large milestone in his playing career. On the other you have a player that has possibly knowingly cheated (though the exact definition of that cheating is an arguement for another time) and lied about it to everyone including a grand jury. It seems like Major League Baseball as a whole is just going to take a big pass on any kind of celebration because they still don't know which end of the telescope they're looking through.
I'm kind of torn on the whole should we or shouldn't we celebrate when Barry Bonds passes Babe Ruth on the home run totals ladder. You think about all of the stories and innuendo that is swirling around this one person right now and it must be an insane way to live a life. Throw in all of the media there to cover the whole thing and it's a zoo of microphones and portable spotlights.
When I first heard the news stories about how Major League Baseball wasn't going to do the "special marked ball" thing that they do around records like this and that the Commisioner made a statement saying that he would not be at the games to congratulate Bonds, I kind of felt like this was just a way for MLB to continue a hands off approach when it comes to the topic of this man. It probably would be a little suspect to have a little moment of handshakes and photo-ops only to have an inditment for perjury come down the next day. The ownership side of baseball is giving this story a wide bearth to avoid getting any of it's assorted messes on their own nice suits.
After a little bit of thought, my feelings changed to something a little more understanding of what the MLB is thinking. When he passes Babe Ruth, that will place Barry Bonds at #2 in all time home run totals. There doesn't tend to be a very big hullabaloo when it comes to someone moving up to second place. I've heard the arguements about how much of a name "Babe Ruth" is to people and how that name and persona is kind of synominous in people's minds with baseball. History and name recognition of the combatants aside, all that is happening is two rungs on the ladder of home run immortality are being switched. Bonds hasn't reached the top rung and it's starting to look like he won't make it to the top, but there will still be Hank Aaron at the top and looking down at everyone in baseball below him. Barry Bonds included.
This is one of those odd discussions that can go either way. If you look from one end of the telescope, the view is similar but different than when you checked out the same thing from the other end. On the one hand you have this player reaching a large milestone in his playing career. On the other you have a player that has possibly knowingly cheated (though the exact definition of that cheating is an arguement for another time) and lied about it to everyone including a grand jury. It seems like Major League Baseball as a whole is just going to take a big pass on any kind of celebration because they still don't know which end of the telescope they're looking through.
posted by RED Jr. at 10:35 PM
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