Oh Barry...

What a topic for my first post back in the USA. The great American pass time seems to be the perfect topic. So...

As of this posting, Barry Bonds is sitting at 758 home runs for his career. This makes him the all time home run king surpassing Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714). Many, at least in the media, see this as the great record in sports. I personally think the hit streak of Joe DiMaggio or consecutive games played streak of Cal Ripken are the least likely to ever be broken. At any rate, it is quite an impressive feat to hit that many home runs in a career.

Many people have a problem with Barry Bonds holding this record. There exists a fairly common consensus that Barry Bonds has had some "outside" help in achieving this record. I pretty much agree that something is going on. Like Jim Rome likes to point out, grown men do not normally increase in head or shoe size. Barry obviously has.

Should the home run record of Barry Bonds have an asterisk? Should he be dismissed as a chemically enhanced abomination? Nah. The fact of the matter is the "outside" help did not make him connect bat to ball. The "outside" help may have made a few home runs out of fly outs to the warning track. "Outside" help certainly can take credit for the number of canoes in McCovey Cove. The fact is that Barry Bonds was already going to be one of the best hitters of his generation, if not ever. So he is about the width of two Barry Bonds from 1993. He is still a great hitter. As far as whether or not he cheated. Yeah, he cheated, and so did almost everyone else. If he were alone, that would be one thing, but the pitchers pitching against them and the outfielders climbing up the walls to rob home runs also took them.

In the end, none of this really matters anyway. Bonds will probably have the shortest reign as all time home run king of all. A-Rod seems poised to take the title and if not, Pujols seems like his career will soon put him in striking distance.