Crocks and Bonds
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by Trizz
It's cowardice the way I see it, or perhaps greediness on the MLB's part. You won't simply stand up and say Barry Bonds, you used performance enhancing drugs and we feel your HR record is tainted. Instead, you wait until he approaches and breaks the record, reap the benefits from sold out games and then you make your feelings loud and clear. If you believed he was guilty in 2007, you believed it 2004 and you could've suspended him, reprimanded him, did whatever you felt was right but know you did not, because you wanted him to break the record however you do not want him in Cooperstown.
Marc Ecko, a know-nothing clothing designer bought the ball for $750,000 -- MLB could've bought the ball before he did anything stupid with it. If Ecko was going to put his logo on the ball you would've stopped him but because it was an asterisk it's okay. Not only did you let him tarnish history, you really expect Barry Bonds to go to Cooperstown knowing that his legacy is asterisked. This isn't about guilt or innocence, because he has yet to test positive for anything. This was simply a way to keep Barry out of the Hall without keeping him out. If Barry didn't get voted in on the first ballot, despite his reputation it would be an insult. This is a man that has hit over 760 HR, 65 hits shy of 3000 and 4 RBIs shy of 2000, there are people in the Hall that aren't even near those numbers. Once again, instead of saying I believe Barry Bonds used steroids he doesn't belong in the HOF, you allow the "gimmick" ball to be in the hall knowing that any self-respecting man will object.
Imagine if he does go to the Hall, just to make the media angry(which I believe he should do) imagine how his family feels, imagine his great grandson walking the halls of Cooperstown and wondering why his great grandfather's HR ball has a star on it and imagine having to explain what the asterisk means. Suddenly the Hall of Fame doesn't represent the best players to pick up a bat or a glove, it's full of cheaters.
I believe in someone being innocent until proven guilty, because if they are guilty it will come out. However, best selling books are not enough proof for me. If Barry Bonds had a book named "If I Took It" then I may not be able to vouch for him, but speculation is just speculation, there's books about the government planning 9/11 and they have a lot of eerie coincidences that doesn't mean it is true. If Barry is so guilty prove it, dig deeper into his medical records, find a videotape of him actually taking it(then again that might not work, see R. Kelly).
In the end it's all about making decisions. What is more important to the Hall of Fame, Barry or the ball? In my opinion, as great of a milestone that it was, just as Hank Aaron's #755 ball soon surpassed his #715, Barry's 756 should also be surpassed. The record is not 756, it's 762 and could be more depending on how many Barry can keep knocking out of there. So just throw out the ball, use the wonders of technology to remove the asterisk, do something. In the words of Kanye West's on SNL, if-if Barry Bonds doesn't go to the Hall of Fame...the Hall of Fame...Loses.
