What do other pros think about Bonds?

[RedBean]

Minnesota Twins All-Star center fielder Torii Hunter says:

"It's so obvious what's going on, He has never failed a drug test and said he never took steroids, but everybody keeps trying to disgrace him. How come nobody even talks about Mark McGwire anymore? Or Palmeiro (who tested positive for steroids in 2005)? Whenever I go home, I hear people say all of the time, 'Baseball just doesn't like black people. Here's the greatest hitter in the game, and they're scrutinizing him like crazy.' It's killing me because you know it's about race."

Dave Stewart, former 20-game winner and World Series MVP says:

"People keep talking about how he's not supposed to keep hitting homers and doing phenomenal things because he's 40-plus, well, Roger Clemens is 40-plus, too, and nobody ever brings his name up. Why not? Is it because one's black and the other is white?"


Seattle Mariners outfielder Matt Lawton, one of 12 major league players who actually tested positive for steroids last season, even has difficulty understanding why those <u>proven guilty have been forgotten</u>. He says:

"If (Bonds) were white, he'd be a poster boy in baseball, not an outcast."


Interesting perspective. Seems like quite a few fellow professional ballplayers feel the persecution of Bonds in the media has little to do with steroids, but more about race and the chase of a record.

[BWebb]

IMO, I don't think it's race as much as he has been viewed as an a-hole his entire career. I think McGwire and Sosa haven't gotten the scrutiny because they were "lovable" and "friendly". Doesn't matter, Bonds is the man, I give a [censored] what the media says.

[Bulldog]

[ QUOTE ]
IMO, I don't think it's race as much as he has been viewed as an a-hole his entire career. I think McGwire and Sosa haven't gotten the scrutiny because they were "lovable" and "friendly". Doesn't matter, Bonds is the man, I give a [censored] what the media says.

[/ QUOTE ]

word

[Triumph36]

You're a troll.

Hank Aaron is beloved throughout baseball. Willie Mays. Sammy Sosa. Any number of Latino and black players. Frank Robinson. The list goes on and on.

[RedBean]

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Hank Aaron is beloved throughout baseball. Willie Mays. Sammy Sosa. Any number of Latino and black players. Frank Robinson. The list goes on and on.

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Just so you know, I personally think it is more about the RECORD, than it is about RACE. Race is an agitating factor, make no mistake, but it is hardly the central issue. It isn't about steroids either, oddly enough.

It is totally, unequivocally about a guy a lot of people don't like getting close to breaking a record they don't want him to have. For some steroids is their excuse, and for others race is their motivation.

Just opening the discussion about how interesting it is that several other pro ballplayers feel.

And for what it's worth, Hank Aaron *is* universally beloved nowadays. But if you think it was anything near that circa 1974 when he broke the record, or even in his early playing days, then you are turning a blind eye to reality. Hank's struggles with racism and hate from many due to his skin color are widely documented.

[J.R.]

Villains (and those made out to be) attract audiences. Its all about polarized figures. See "pro" wrestling.

[MyTurn2Raise]

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Villains (and those made out to be) attract audiences. Its all about polarized figures. See "pro" wrestling.

[/ QUOTE ]


ESPN and sports media in general have embraced the pro wrestiling marketing concept....heroes and heels, willing to flip-flop at the most crucial time....it's the underlying theme of most shows

[RedBean]

[ QUOTE ]

ESPN and sports media in general have embraced the pro wrestiling marketing concept....heroes and heels, willing to flip-flop at the most crucial time....it's the underlying theme of most shows

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent point. This could just be the setup to the great storyline many years down the road when Pujols smacks homer #776, passing Bonds on the all-time list and restoring the crown to the good guys stable.

A-Rod will have of course failed many years previously as an aging Bonds and manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan will have crippled him with a folding metal chair during the seventh inning stretch on a road trip in Boston, shortly before being chased off by "Hammerin'" Hank Aaron and Curt "Superfly" Schilling.

[MuresanForMVP]

"Just so you know, I personally think it is more about the RECORD, than it is about RACE. Race is an agitating factor, make no mistake, but it is hardly the central issue. It isn't about steroids either, oddly enough.

It is totally, unequivocally about a guy a lot of people don't like getting close to breaking a record they don't want him to have. For some steroids is their excuse, and for others race is their motivation."

I agree wholeheartedly, but I think it should be said that the fact that he's almost assuredly taken steroids at some point in his career only adds to the hatred of him. I no longer have much respect for palmeiro, sosa,mcgwire,etc. It just so happens that Barry is light years ahead of them in terms of being an A-hole

[danvh]

&lt;conspiracy theory&gt; Right now Im not sure if its even about the record. I think its more MLB and the owners needing a bad guy.

Baseball has defended players in far worse circumstances and the union is notorious for blindly defending players. However it seems like from actions like MLB continually leeking things like not authenticating balls they want to keep Barry in bad guy role as long as possible.

Because once he leaves and if steroids are still a big thing, baseball and the owners are going to be asked why they turned a blind eye. And instead of investigations by their friends into what Bonds did and when, its going to be investigations on what Selig and the owners knew and when. &lt;/conspiracy theory&gt;