756*

It happened last night at 10:50 PM Central time, well after this 40 year-old was asleep. Somebody on the Washington Nationals named Mike Bacsik threw a 84 mile per hour fastball to Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants that ended up traveling 435 feet over the right-center field wall. It marked the 756th time in Bonds career that he has hit a Home Run, which happens to signify that Bonds now holds the All-Time Home Run record in Major League Baseball.

Hooray.

I am very conflicted about this. On one hand, there is almost no question that Barry used steroids to bulk up during his career, which had to have a positive effect on his ability to hit the long ball. On the other hand, even if he was juiced up, Barry still had to hit the ball. Back in The Day when I played baseball, I was "all field, no hit." You could have pumped me full of steroids until I looked like Lou Ferrigno and I still would have hit .200. I have no doubt that Barry Bonds would have been a Hall of Fame baseball player without the steroids, I just don't know if he would have hit 756 Home Runs.

And then there is the character issue. The man whose record Bonds surpassed, Hammerin' Hank Aaron, played with dignity and class. Before Aaron, Babe Ruth held the Home Run record. The Babe also played with dignity, along with copious amounts of bourbon and hot dogs. But it was all "on the level." Barry Bonds is considered by many to be the world's biggest jack-ass. I simply don't have the time or the space to devote to the stories that I have heard about Bonds being a first-class pig to players, fans, & media alike. Not that all great athletes were model citizens. From what I have read about Ty Cobb, he sounded like Satan in human form.

So this is what it has come to. An ass-hole who allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs has broken one of the most revered and beloved records in baseball history. Maybe Bonds is a perfect metaphor for Our Times. Rarely does anything happen anymore that is not ultra-controversial, over-analyzed and dissected by the media. Maybe Bonds breaking that record is perfect. I don't know.

For the longest time, I thought that Hank Aaron's record of 755 Home Runs would never be surpassed. Now, I don't think Bond's record will stand. If he remains healthy, I believe Alex Rodriguez will own the record in a decade. The one record that I do not believe will ever be surpassed is Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. Beating that one would be tough, even with performance-enhancing drugs.

What do you think? Does Bond's breaking the Home Run record bother you or is it much-ado about nothing? Let me know.

Peace,

Jeff