Blacks in Baseball - Issue II

II. Barry Bonds*

On more news regarding black baseball players, have you been keeping up with Barry Bonds* and his quest to beat the home run record set by Hank Aaron. I don't like the inevitable conclusion that Barry Bonds* will be the record holder, simply because I think that Bonds* has been using steroids. A lot of other people feel the same way. However, I was surprised to learn that there is a racial divide in attitudes about Barry Bonds*. Well, I was also surprised at a racial divide over O. J. Simpson, so I must be clueless.

...A recent ESPN/ABC News poll suggests there is a racial divide in the nation around people's attitude towards Bonds and his attempt to set the new home run mark. In the last few years, we have been treated to grand jury investigations, congressional hearings and best-selling books, all of which have placed Bonds at the center of a much bigger steroid controversy in baseball. This being the case, in spite of all the speculation to the contrary, it has never been proven that Bonds is guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs.

There has long been a notion among certain members of the African-American community that once a successful black person manages to make it to the top of his respective field, there is a vested interest among other people outside of the community to see this person fall. Barry Bonds is only the most recent example of such a notion. The vehemence with which these outside forces seem aligned in their interest to go after Bonds has helped to fuel such thinking.

Many others feel that the situation is plain and simple; they believe Bonds cheated and should be punished. Again, this is despite the fact that Bonds has never been caught using steroids. This racial divide reveals different attitudes about crime and punishment, guilt and innocence in our society.

In a country that has long prided itself on a system of justice that pursued an "innocent until proven guilty" mantra, Bonds finds himself, like many other African-Americans throughout history, just plain guilty.

...In times past, some would have called Bonds an "uppity Negro." In today's parlance, though, Bonds might best be described by Ice Cube's moniker, "the n----- you love to hate."

...The history of racism in baseball is far more troubling to me than the possibility that someone might have used performance-enhancing drugs to aid his accomplishments. Yet no one would ever consider putting an asterisk by Ruth's name or that of any other white player who enjoyed the benefits of playing in a competitive league that did not allow for fair and equal competition based solely on the issue of race.

...At the end of the day, it would be great to see people put away their childish racial resentment of Barry Bonds and give the man his due, but as an adult I have no illusions that this is going to happen.

Do you agree with that writer? I simply think that Barry Bonds* has gotten to the record unfairly, and it doesn't take a grand jury or medical study to simply see how he has bullked up. One reason, too, that I don't see this as racism, is because the record that Bonds* will beat is held by another black man, Hank Aaron.

It just occurred to me. Maybe we should place an asterisk (*) by the records of Barry Bonds*. Why didn't I think of that earlier?

Additional Commentary:

More thoughts on this can be found at our friend's site:
Assistant Village Idiot

More from ESPN here:
Please stop Bonds, before it's too late By Jemele Hill
"God, can you smite Barry Bonds before he breaks Major League Baseball's all-time home run record? ...God, Hank Aaron deserves better than to see his record broken by an unlikable, arrogant cheater who has done nothing but heighten stereotypes of black athletes. "

This just in from Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling on MSNBC:
Schilling rips Bonds
says he (Bonds) admitted 'roid use, 'He admitted to cheating on his wife . . . on his taxes . . . and on the game'