I'm so far on the fence about Barry Bonds I have splinters in some very unusual places. On the one hand, the man is probably one of the most disliked players of all time and for good reason. Bonds thinks he is the greatest player of all time and doesn't mind saying it. He's arrogant, cocky and has no respect for the media or the fans. In Pittsburgh, he alienated his teammates, coaches, front office and fans. On the other hand, though, Bonds is one hell of a hitter. Critics forget that before he reportedly started using steroids in 1999, when he was only a skeleton of his current self, he was still a prolific hitter. Bonds' stats dictated that he would have gone down as one of the greatest all-around players of all time had he not taken steroids. When he was in Pittsburgh and in his early years in San Francisco, his homerun totals were lower, but his stolen bases and fielding percentage were up. The problem was that he wanted more. The book Game of Shadows by the San Francisco Chronicle columnists that broke the story, highlights this the best. Bonds wasn't satisfied with just being great, he had to be the best, and ultimately, that's what led to his downfall in the eyes of much of the American public.
4 comments:
Good analysis Africk. Bonds is an enigma as you point out. While he is one of the greatest players in baseball history, he is arrogant, disliked, and not a nice person. He makes it impossible to like, and it doesn't help that he cheated. Good luck with your splinters.
Good point about Bonds wanting to be the best, which alienated him from the American public. It's indeed a tough subject, because there's so much on the table to look at, not to mention the man has never been caught cheating at any point in his career.
Rowand (Africk), love the post, but I'm more impressed with the fact that you wrote such a good post and homered in the Phillies game today.
I agree with you about being on the fence about the whole Barry Bonds topic. It's hard to pick one side when he was such a great ball player without the steroids, but still used them. Your point about his arrogance was right on; it's a shame he felt he needed to get steroids to improve even more.
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